


Obsessions

by acciotonystank



Series: Misfit Heroes [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, College, Eating Disorders, F/M, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Slow Burn, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Underage Drinking, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 67,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26082178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acciotonystank/pseuds/acciotonystank
Summary: "I thought you didn't like me.""I never said that.""You didn't need to.""I just said you were arrogant.""Forgive me for the confusion, then."Making friends wasn’t exactly something that was a high priority at college for Eleanora Myers, so it’s certainly a surprise when Tony Stark of all people seems adamant to make her like him. But it turns out they may have more in common than she originally thought. Daddy issues, for starters.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Misfit Heroes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893571
Comments: 78
Kudos: 123





	1. Obsessions

_Every boyfriend is the one_

_Until otherwise proven_

_The good are never easy_

_The easy never good_

_And love, it never happens_

_Like you think it really should_

_Deception and perfection_

_Are wonderful traits_

_One will breed love_

_The other hate_

_You'll find me in the lonely hearts_

_Under 'I'm after a brand new start'_


	2. Prologue

"Don't you have homework to be doing, Ellie?" 

"I've finished it." 

"Well, good for you, but I haven't finished mine, so get out," Serena rolled her eyes, giving her little sister a light shove.

"Stop acting all high and mighty just because you're in high school," Eleanora scoffed. "I know your workload is heavier than mine, but even I know that the amount of time you spend studying isn't normal."

Serena shot her a shrewd look. "I study lots because that's what it takes to succeed. That's what you have to do to get somewhere in life and end up in a good job like Mum and Dad."

Eleanora pressed her lips together. "Yeah, but-" 

"There's no 'but's, Ellie. Childish games are a waste of time, and if you want to be successful, you can't be so focused on having fun. You can't always stay a child."

"You're still a child," Eleanora pointed out. "Besides..." she hesitated, knowing she was probably poking the bear, "don't you think you might be.. too obsessed with success? I mean, it's not really the same for everyone-"

Serena put her pen down and turned around to face Eleanora with a harsh expression. "Look, when you're young, it's hard to understand the idea of sacrifice for long term benefits. Sure, it sounds sad that I spend most of my time focusing on school, but it's so that I can be happier in the future when all of this pays off. And I know success isn't the same for everyone, some of my peers' parents don't seem to care that much in the first place. But Mum and Dad want us to end up in good jobs with good money-"

"But that's my point!" Eleanora interrupted exasperatedly. "What constitutes a 'good job'? Because what if I don't want to be a brain surgeon or a corporate lawyer?"

"Corporate law isn't the highest paid type of lawyer," Serena responded absent-mindedly.

"Why are you so obsessed with money?" she asked softly.

"Look around, Ellie. Mum and Dad's money allows us to live in this nice house and they provide us with plenty of food and clothes and opportunities. You don't want to end up living on the street, digging through the trash for scraps-" she cut herself off with a shudder.

Eleanora was about to remark that poor and rich were not the only financial statuses, and that money did not necessarily equate to happiness (see: her miserable parents), however, she was interrupted by the sound of the garage door coming to life.

"You better get your semester report ready to show Dad," Serena advised her, and from the way she turned back to her work, Eleanora assumed that was the end of the conversation.

Their mother, Beatrice, would most likely not be home from her job as the head of a patent law firm for another hour. Eleanora was aware that her father greatly valued this hour of peace in which his wife was not home and his daughters dared not bother him. However, she was also aware that Reginald would want to see her report, and would not be impressed if he had been home a total of an hour before being given it.

Just as she was coming down the stairs with her report in hand, Reginald came into the kitchen, placing his briefcase down on the polished, hardwood floor, and loosening his tie slightly.

"Not now, Eleanora," he dismissed, opening the liquor cabinet.

She was about to take her chances and retreat back upstairs, when he caught sight of the paper in her hand.

"Wait, what's that?"

"M-my semester report," she mumbled, not making eye contact with the man.

Reginald stepped forward and snatched it out of her hands, eyes trailing over it. Her chest tightened slightly as she waited for his response. He gave her what looked like an attempt at an encouraging smile, although it came off more like a grimace.

"There's room for improvement."

Once again, Eleanora got the sense that the conversation was over and scurried back upstair to her room. 

From a young age, the girl had learnt that her father had a wide spectrum of moods. Sometimes, he was kind and nurturing, and would even take his daughters out for ice-cream. They would laugh together, and Eleanora would notice that they somewhat resembled a 'normal' family. Usually this occurred in public places. However, times like this, when he had just come home from a long day of work as the president of Hope Memorial Hospital, they both knew to leave him be.

Eleanora closed her bedroom door and flopped down on her four-poster bed, trying to hold back tears. Abruptly, she got back to her feet and started pacing angrily around her room, before stopping front of her mirror.

"There's room for improvement."

She'd received one A-, three A+'s and the rest were A's. Sure, she was a little annoyed about the A-, but-

"There's room for improvement."

What did he want from her?

"There's room for improvement." 

Why wasn't she good enough?


	3. Who Pissed in Your Cereal?

_"You should really visit Mum and Dad. They miss you."_

"They don't miss me, Serena, they just miss being able to control me. Besides, I feel suffocated in that house - no, thank you." 

_"They only want the best for you, Ellie."_

"They don't know what that is! They only _think_ they do," Eleanora spat harshly into her Motorola DynaTAC flip phone. 

Serena sighed. _"Ellie, one day, you will come to realise all the things they did for you and you will be grateful."_

"I don't want to go to Med or Law school!" Eleanora replied agitatedly. "What if I want to go into... I don't know... teaching!" 

" _Teaching?_ " Serena replied with evident distaste. _"Ellie, you wouldn't enjoy that."_

"How the fuck would you know? You don't know me at all, and the _only_ reason you're calling me is because Mum and Dad told you to, which just goes to show how under-their-control you are. Don't you see that you've become their little puppet? They only want us to do well so it reflects well on _them,_ but I don't want to be a lawyer or a surgeon. Law sounds boring as hell, and I'm too emotionally unstable to be a doctor. I could _not_ deal with losing people. And I love science, but I don't want to be a researcher. I want to help people first-hand, not from a lab. I want to work with people with disabilities, or do social work, or-" 

" _Eleanora_ ," Serena interrupted sternly, as though she could no longer stand what Eleanora saying. " _I don't know what's gotten into you, but I highly recommend you correct your pathway now, before it's too late."_

"I already have." 

" _Ellie-_ " 

Eleanora hung up. 

She took a deep breath, glancing around the Stanford University campus, wondering how many of the students that walked past hated their house as much as she hated hers. And then she glanced down at her watch. 

_Shit._

She scrambled to her her feet and hurried off in the direction of the lecture hall she needed to be in. She wasn't exactly late, she knew she would get there in plenty of time. The problem was that an unexpected proportion of the students in her physical chemistry class were left-handed, which resulted in her missing out on a left-handed seat if she didn't get there early. 

Eleanora raced through the building, and burst into the almost-full lecture hall, which she immediately realised contained no vacant left-handed seats. She stifled a groan and slumped down into a seat in one of the back few rows, grateful that all her notebooks were hardback as she pulled one out with unnecessary vigour and dropped it on her lap, ignoring the fold-out table. 

"Who pissed in your cereal this morning?" 

Eleanora glanced at the person next to her, who she recognised as Tony Stark. The boy had already graduated from MIT at age 17, and then for reasons unbeknownst to anyone at Stanford, had decided he wanted another degree, from across the other side of the country. Although most people knew him as the son of the famous Howard Stark, he was beginning to make a name for himself with his rapid academic progress. 

Although Eleanora had seen him around the campus and in her class, she had never actually spoken to him before. Mind you, the one time she did go to ask him a question about when an assignment was due (because he was the closest person to her at the time), the blonde succubus beside him literally _hissed_ at her. Not that Tony himself noticed, he was too engrossed in some calculation to pay attention to her actions. 

She eyed him for a moment with a quirked eyebrow, wondering just how much he had considered his question before blurting it out. For someone who was supposedly a genius, you'd think he'd know that asking snarky questions about someone's bad mood never ended well. 

"My sister," Eleanora answered, pulling off her thick winter scarf before turning back to face the front of the lecture hall and preparing to take notes. 

"You're English?" he blinked in surprise. 

"Greek-Welsh," she corrected shortly. "Lost my Welsh accent when I moved to London, though." 

"It's Eleanora, right? Can I call you Lenny?" 

"No, you cannot. And how do you know my name?" 

Tony pointed to the name she had inscribed in the front cover of her notebook. 

"Very clever," she rolled her eyes. 

"I'm guessing you know my name." 

Of course she did, but the fact that he had made the assumption that she did caused a rather irrational spark of irritation. 

"No. Should I?" she asked innocently. 

Tony blinked, and gave her a surveying look, before an almost-amused smile pulled at his lips and he turned back to the front of the room. Eleanora followed his actions, and picked up her pen, waiting for the professor to begin. 

"You're a lefty?" Tony piped up. 

She sighed heavily. "Let me guess, your uncle's friend's daughter's dog is left handed?" 

Tony ignored the snap, and smirked slightly, before leaning closer. "You know, considering how many lefties there are in this class, maybe next time you should get here earlier, Lenny, so you can snag one of those nifty seats with the table on the left side." 

"Wow. I had not thought of that," she deadpanned. "So it's true, you really _are_ a genius." 

"So you _do_ know who I am." 

Eleanora pressed her lips together, refusing to react to his teasing grin. 

"Ah, stubborn, I see. I guess we have that in common," he continued. 

"We have nothing in common," Eleanora scoffed. 

"Well, we're both in this class," Tony pointed out. "We're both humans, we're both students, we're both-" 

"Please stop." 

"Alright, Lenny." 

"Don't call me that." 

"Okay, Lenny." 

Eleanora turned to face him with a harsh glare, and he held his hands up in surrender. 

"Okay, okay, sorry. I'll stop," he promised. "You know, most people are usually very happy to talk to me." 

"Well, clearly I'm not most people," she smiled sweetly. "And clearly _you're_ arrogant." 

Tony let out a low whistle of mock hurt, and a few awkward moments of silence between the two ensued.

"Sorry," Eleanora sighed after a while. "Not for calling you arrogant - I stand by that. But sorry for being rude in general." 

"Rough morning?" he guessed, cocking his head slightly. 

"Something like that. But that's not an excuse to be rude. An explanation, I guess. But not an excuse." 

"Well, hey, at least you've got an explanation, I'm just like this all the time," he joked, causing Eleanora's lips to twitch. 

She stared at him for a moment, and she could see something else behind his eyes that she couldn't explain. His smirk faded and he looked slightly unnerved by her analytical gaze. 

"Is there something on my face?" he asked. 

"You tell me," Eleanora replied vaguely, and before he could respond, the professor started up the presentation. 

She could feel his eyes burning into the side of her skull, and she came to the conclusion that that was probably a pretty weird thing to say. Blurting out whatever came to her head had rarely worked out well for her, and she wasn't sure why she apparently thought it would start doing so now. 

"Aren't you going to take notes?" Tony whispered pointedly when she hadn't written a word the professor had said down. 

She blinked and pulled her focus to the lecture, cheeks warming in embarrassment as she started scribbling down notes. 

At the conclusion of the lecture, Eleanora hastily gathered her belongings and was first out of the lecture hall, closely followed by Tony. 

"Hey, Lenny, wait up!" 

Eleanora slowed her pace despite herself, and looked back at him as he caught up with her. 

"What did you mean when you said 'you tell me'-?" 

"Tony!" a shrill, excited voice called out, and suddenly a head of red hair had launched herself at Tony, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, giggling hysterically. 

"Hi, Maddie," Tony grinned at her. 

"Oh, hey," the girl smiled, glancing over at Eleanora as if she had only just realised she was there. 

"Hello," she replied politely. 

Maddie dropped back down to her feet and pulled Tony in for a heated kiss, giggling against his lips when he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. 

Now, Eleanora didn't like to judge people, especially for their sexual activity. The idea of shaming someone for enjoying a natural process and celebrating the beauty of the human body didn't sit well with her at all. She also did not pay attention to gossip, because it was almost never accurate. However, Eleanora didn't need word of mouth to know that Maddie was, well... not a nice person. She was possessive, manipulative, aggressive, a compulsive liar and gave no indication that she cared about anyone else. She had heard Maddie talking about other people in truly awful ways, and was always completely unfazed whenever her words reached their subject. 

Eleanora decided against announcing her departure, and simply walked off, leaving the pair lip-locked in the middle of the hallway and coming up with a multitude of other ways a person could more politely indicate their arrival, as opposed to literally jumping on someone. But to each their own, she guessed. 

**• • •**

A knock at her apartment door that evening had Eleanora dropping her pen like a hot potato and rushing to the door, grinning at her boyfriend, Tucker, when she opened it. He beamed and pressed a kiss to her lips, stepping inside with a container of what appeared to be pasta. 

"Did you make that?" she asked, gesturing to it. 

"I've been trying to teach myself," Tucker shrugged. "Figured we can't live on take-out and I can't expect you to cook all the time." 

"That's really sweet, babe," she replied softly, opening the lid to have a look. "It smells amazing." 

"Don't get your hopes up," he laughed, serving it into bowls and placing them in the microwave to reheat. "I'm sure it smells much better than it tastes." 

To the surprise of both parties, the meal was actually very nice. While Eleanora excused herself to go to the toilet, Tucker set up Ghostbusters on the television. She cuddled up against him, and he immediately started tracing circles on her leg with a finger. It wasn't long later that his hand seemed to wander a bit more, massaging her thigh, getting higher and higher, until his hands were slipping under the hem of her skirt and grazing her underwear. 

She was internally very thankful for how often her roommate, Katie, had one night stands in varying boys' dorms, tonight being one of them. 

"Can't we just watch the movie?" she asked playfully, despite having to refrain from letting out a breathy moan. 

Tucker grinned. "Why would I watch a movie when I can watch you shudder underneath me?" 

Eleanora let out a shocked laugh and slapped him lightly on the arm. " _Wow_ , okay!" 

"Sorry, too far?" he grimaced. 

"No... just not what I was expecting you to say," she answered with a smile. 

"What _were_ you expecting me to say?" 

"' _Sure, El, we can just watch the movie_ '." 

Tucker pouted. "But you're so sexy, I can't help it!" 

Eleanora rolled her eyes, but shifted herself so that she was straddling him, and tugged lightly at his hair as they began a rather heavy make-out session. Only, a problem -quite literally- rose not long later. Eleanora glanced down at his lap in amusement. 

"Wow you really can't help it." 

"You can't leave me like this!" he whined, nipping at her collar bone. 

"Actually," she whispered breathily into his ear, "I can." 

"Ellie, don't you dare-" he began as she got to her feet and walked away. 

She stopped in the doorway of her bedroom. 

"Aren't you coming?" she asked. 

"I'm sure you'll make me," he retorted, hastily getting to his feet. 

Eleanora blinked, mouth dropping open at his sly joke. "God, what's gotten into you?" 

"I just love you so much," Tucker answered fondly, slipping his hands around her waist, and gently squeezing her rear, causing her to gasp slightly. 

"I love you too. Now are we doing this or not?" 

Tucker hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom, where he roughly dropped her onto her bed and hovered over her. They just stared at each other for a moment, until Eleanora reached up and pulled his head down to meet hers in a passionate kiss. 


	4. Daddy Issues

"I'll see you at the party tonight, yeah?" 

Katie grinned and nodded in response. "Duh. I'm not missing an opportunity to get a little bit slutty and boozy, Nora." 

Eleanora laughed at her roommate's response. "Don't know why I asked. Slutty and boozy is the best kind of night. Anyway, I really gotta go-" 

"Get a lefty seat?" the girl smirked. "Yeah, go on, ya weirdo. I'll see you tonight." 

Eleanora made sure she arrived extra early to her next physical chemistry lecture, and claimed a left-handed seat, dumping her backpack onto the seat next to her. 

"Aw, thanks for saving me a seat," a familiar voice greeted her as Tony Stark moved her bag to the floor and sat down beside her, propping his feet up on the chair in front of him. 

She scowled. "I didn't."

"Sure, sure."

"Arrogant," she reminded in a light voice. 

"Where'd you run off to the other day? You didn't say bye." 

Eleanora's eyebrows flew up. "Sorry for not enjoying the live pornography," she scoffed.

"Are you slut-shaming me?"

"No, you can do whatever you want with whomever you want, but not _wherever_ you want. People don't need to see people with their tongues down each others throats when they're just trying to go about their day." 

Tony laughed. "In my defence, it's mainly Maddie that initiates that kind of stuff."

"I don't doubt that. Especially not after Monday's display." 

"Fair enough. I'll try and get her reign it in a bit from now on." 

"Thanks," she replied dryly. 

"Move your feet, asshole," a guy snarled to Tony, gesturing to the seat he had his feet up on. 

"There's no need for that," Eleanora spoke up, causing him to look at her. "You could have asked that significantly more politely, there's no need to call him an asshole."

"I'm sorry, who do you think you are?" 

"I don't _think_ I'm anybody, I _know_ who I am because I'm not a stupid git who doesn't know my own name. I am curious, however, as to why you think he's an asshole? Aside from his feet being on the chair, because something so minor surely doesn't constitute a title like that." 

"He's an asshole," the boy began angrily, "because he's a selfish douche who acts like he owns the place and like he's better than everyone just 'cause he's rich and graduated MIT last year."

"Sounds like you're jealous," she suggested with a small pout. 

"Of what?" he asked incredulously. 

"Well, as you just said, he's rich and smart." 

"I never said he was smart." 

Eleanora rolled her eyes. "He graduated MIT at seventeen - of course he's smart. He doesn't act like he's better than anyone, you just don't understand the concept of confidence. And I think he has earned the right to be confident. Everyone does. Besides, he's done all this before at MIT, just because he knows what he's doing and you don't, doesn't mean he is an asshole, or selfish." 

"What are you, in love with him or something?" 

"Certainly not, I just don't tolerate rude, misguided judgements of people that aren't true. Sure, I could think of a few choice words to describe him that aren't very flattering, but 'asshole' is not one of them." 

"Whatever, bitch," the guy grumbled and moved away to find another seat. 

"Hey-!" Tony began indignantly, but Eleanora beat him to it. 

"Oh, yes, I'm such a bitch for calling you out on your childish behaviour!" she called after him, gaining the attention of most of the people in the lecture hall. 

The guy just glared at her and sunk down in his seat just as the professor cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and began his presentation.

"I thought you didn't like me," Tony whispered to her with a confused expression. 

"Shut up, I need to listen to this." 

"Yes ma'am." 

**• • •**

"I thought you didn't like me," Tony questioned again as soon as the lecture was over. 

Eleanora crossed her arms over her chest. "I never said that."

"You didn't _need_ to."

"I just said you were arrogant," she defended.

"Forgive me for the confusion, then," he retorted, causing her to laugh.

"Look, Stark, I _do_ think you're arrogant but that doesn't mean I dislike you and it certainly doesn't mean you deserve to be called an asshole just because that guy is bitter that he's not as smart as you," she explained. 

"Was that a compliment?"

"Well, yes. You are intelligent, no one can deny that, and despite the fact that you've clearly heard it a lot, it doesn't mean people should stop saying it for that reason, because if you've been told you're smart a lot, it's obviously for a reason." 

"I don't get it though, you say that I'm arrogant, but when that guy called me out for it, you defended me." 

"You _are_ kind of arrogant, but you don't act like you own the place or like you're better than everyone. And I don't think you're selfish, either, but I also don't know you that well, so maybe I just haven't seen it. I also have a feeling that your arrogance isn't a reflection of what you really think, rather a facade of sorts."

Tony stared at her for a moment in confusion. "I... I cannot figure you out. Do you like me or not?'"

"I'm still deciding," she shrugged.

"What could I do to make you like me?"

Eleanora cocked her head and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why is it important to you that I like you?"

He thought about it for a second. "You seem to be a very good judge of character, so if you like me then that means I'm not a terrible person." 

She stopped packing up her things to meet his gaze. "I can tell you now that you're not a terrible person, Tony Stark. You're just... lost. You're trying to find your way and figure out who you are, just like the rest of us. You're just carrying it out a bit differently." 

Tony didn't seem to know how to react to the statement. "I appreciate you standing up for me. Generally people don't do that," he admitted. 

"People like to find faults in others to make themselves feel better. And I think sometimes people can get too carried away, but it's not fair because you don't deserve all the shit people give you. You deserve some of it, but not all of it." 

"Uh, thanks I guess?" he laughed. 

"What I'm _trying_ to say that if people don't like a certain aspect about a person, they'll try to find as many other flaws that they can so they can justify themselves, which isn't really right." 

By this time, everyone else had left the lecture hall. 

"Did you bring lunch, or were you going to buy it?" Tony asked her as they walked out. 

"Uh, I hadn't really thought about it, why?" 

"Do you wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Oh," Eleanora responded in surprise. "That sounds nice, but I've actually got a heap of study to do." 

"You still gotta eat," he pointed out, before a look of realisation dawned on his face. "Or... if I'm overstepping then you can just say no, I won't be offended-" 

"No, no, it's not that," she shook her head. "Alright, sure." 

It only took that one lunch for Eleanora to realise that there was a lot more to Tony than what was on the surface, and while he did a good job of putting up the blasè, cool kid act, his eyes were among the most expressive that she had come across. While she expected him to ask about her family as a lot of people she met did, both of them seemed to actively avoid the topic, instead talking about just plain obscure things, like if they had to be half an animal, which animal would they pick and which half. 

It did make her wonder, however, why Tony was avoiding the family discussion, although she supposed that with a famous father, he probably got sick of it or assumed she knew all she needed to know about his family already. But then she thought about her own family and wondered if maybe there was something else going on there. 

**• • •**

"I don't see the point of this," Eleanora said that night as Katie wrote her number on Eleanora's arm and Eleanora's number on her own arm. "If we're both planning on getting fucked up, using each other as a point of contact in case of an emergency seems a little... pointless." 

"Have you got anyone else, Nora?" Katie asked bluntly. "'Cause I haven't." 

"Fair point," she sniggered, adjusting her dress. "You ready?" 

"Hell yeah. Let's go make our parents disappointed in us." 

Eleanora briefly considered how little she had to try to do that, but just smiled and tugged Katie out the door of their apartment. 

"So... what's with you and that Tony Stark boy?" Katie asked in a teasing tone as they walked to the party. "I saw you guys at lunch today." 

"He's in my physical chemistry class," she shrugged. "He's... confusing." 

"How so?" 

"Well... he's arrogant and narcissistic and kind of annoying, but... there's something I can't pinpoint. I don't think how he acts is who he really is." 

"And what makes you say that?" the red-head frowned. 

"His eyes," she answered matter-of-factly. "They betray him." 

When they got to the frat house the party was being thrown at, Eleanora let out a small content sigh at the chaotic energy, loud noises and bright lights. The girls made their way inside, and had drinks in their hand only a short while later. 

About an hour later, the girls were well and truly in the tipsy phase. Eleanora was making her way upstairs to the bathroom when the heel of her shoe caught on one of the steps. She let out a gasp of surprise as she stumbled forwards, only for a swift pair of hands to grab her by the waist from behind and pull her back upright. 

"You good?" 

Eleanora turned to face Tony, who was looking at her amusement. She snorted slightly, for reasons even unknown to her, and his tipsy grin widened. "Thanks. I was about to go face first into the edge of that step. Would've gouged my eyes out or cracked my skull or... something." 

"Vivid." 

"Do you know where a toilet is in this place? I have had a lot of fluid tonight and it is passing _straight_ through me." 

"Follow me," he instructed with a laugh, moving in front of her and leading her upstairs. "Maybe you should slow down a little." 

"Maybe you should fuck off and let me drink as much as I want, you condescending twat," she replied nonchalantly, though the twinkle in her eyes told him she was teasing. 

"The door doesn't lock properly," he said, showing her into the bathroom. "I'll stand guard so no one walks in on you." 

"Much appreciated," she nodded, tapping his nose and closing the door behind her, causing him to pull a face. When she came out, she grabbed Tony's jacket and wiped her wet hands on it. "There wasn't a hand towel," she responded to his bewildered expression. 

"This jacket is probably worth more than your life." 

"Oh, I don't doubt it, Stark. But this dress has quite a small surface area in comparison to your outfit, so thanks." 

"You're welcome," he replied dryly. "Do you wanna grab some fresh air? I was about to head to the balcony." 

Eleanora nodded.

As the pair walked towards the balcony, they passed a small group of girls talking loudly. 

"Oh my god, you will not believe what my dad got me for my birthday!" a girl was excitedly telling her friend. "We're gonna go camping at Flathead lake and do some hikes together. He said it'll be a great bonding experience, away from the city."

The idea of Reginald taking Serena and Eleanora camping was laughable for a number of reasons. Primarily, it would require him taking time off work, and spend far too long bonding with his daughters, as well as the whole outdoors thing. 

Both Tony and Eleanora let out small scoffs in sync at her words and Tony looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"So we _do_ have something in common." 

"What?" 

"Daddy issues."

Eleanora glared at him. "I do not have-!"

"Acceptance is key," Tony interrupted her with a condescending pat on the arm.

"Wait, what do you mean we have that in common? The famous Howard Stark isn't as good a father as he is inventor?"

He let out a derisive chuckle. "You could say that. Tell you what, I'll share if you do."

"Sorry?"

"Tell me about your fucked up family and I'll tell you about mine," he offered nonchalantly.

"Uh, I'll pass thanks," she rolled her eyes.

"Suit yourself," he shrugged.

Eleanora had to admit, spilling every frustration she had about her family sounded surprisingly appealing in the moment. The only other person she had told was Tucker and, as someone who had come from a loving, supportive family, he didn't understand. The fact that someone in a similar position to her - Tony Stark of all people - was offering to talk about was pretty random, especially considering they hardly knew each other.

But maybe he was more like her than she realised. Perhaps he, too, didn't have anyone who actually understood.

"Wait... are you serious?" Eleanora asked him hesitantly as they stepped onto the balcony.

He was clearly surprised by the question, as he stared at her for a moment, as if wondering if he had imagined it. "Why?" he grinned slightly. "You wanna trade sob stories, after all?"

"I don't know anyone else who understands," she admitted with a sigh. "I can't tell people that I don't like my family without being made to feel like an awful daughter."

Tony stared at her for a moment, before he smiled slightly and gave a small nod. "Another drink first?" 

Eleanora nodded enthusiastically. "Definitely."

**• • •**

"...and I love Serena, I really do. And I know she loves me. But she's so far up their asses that she can't see that they've been manipulating her all her life. To be completely honest, I don't think Mum and Dad even know. They're so convinced that they're doing the right thing, it's frightening. They're all so obsessed with money and success - and they think they're the same thing. To me, success just means being happy with where I'm at, by _my_ standards, not anyone else's." 

Eleanora let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. The two had been talking for an hour now, and both of them had shared more than they intended to, but with more and more alcohol, there was no stopping it now. Tony had told her all about Howard, as well as how he was basically raised by his butler, Edwin Jarvis. He'd shared his frustration over the fact that Howard didn't deserve his mother, whom he loved dearly but would rarely stand up for him.

"I feel resentment towards my parents, and I'm not proud of it," she continued, "but they honestly fucked me up so much with their impossible standards and preaching that you can only be happy if you're in a high paying job - _which,_ by the way, they prove wrong themselves, because they're both fuckin' miserable - and I don't want that kind of life. And it sucks because I still love them. I mean, they raised me and I have so many good memories with them... they're my family." 

"You don't get to choose who you love," Tony said, "and you can't force yourself to love or not love a person. You shouldn't feel like you should or shouldn't love them, because - frankly - you're stuck with whatever you feel. No matter how much I resent my dad, I still feel this need in me to please him and make him proud of me - which will never happen. I know that because that's the kind of person he is, but... I guess I've always been a high achiever," he added bitterly. 

"Are you ever worried you're going to end up like your dad?" she asked. 

"Every fucking day," he nodded. "And yet, every now and again I do something or say something and I realise I'm acting like him and I wanna scream." 

"I feel like I missed childhood. Like actually missed it. I wish I'd been a prom queen, fighting for the title instead of being sixteen and burning up a bible, feeling super suicidal." 

"That's kind of why I'm here," Tony admitted. "Dad is always telling me to grow up - when I was a fifteen-year old in college, mind you. So that's why I came here, across the other side of the country to get another degree that I really don't need." 

"To spite him?" Eleanora grinned. 

"To fucking spite him," he nodded. "He told me I was wasting my life so here I am, wasting another couple years. To be fair, I'm _meant_ to be in college at this age, I'm meant to be making questionable life choices, and I just want a chance to have fun before I have to go back and surrender my life to upholding his shitty legacy." 

"My parents say they want me to do well for my sake, but I know that it's really so that it reflects well on them, so I can be a trophy - just another accomplishment." 

"At least if you fail spectacularly, it won't be broadcasted to the world." 

"Do you think you'll fail spectacularly?" she asked curiously. 

"Dad seems to think so," he shrugged. 

"But what do _you_ think, Tony Stark?" 

The boy blinked at the question and cocked his head in thought, staring out at towards the grass. He took another swig from his bottle of beer and licked his lips before turning back to meet her eye. 

"I think... there's only one way to find out."


	5. Walk of Shame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention - I've cast Marina Diamandis as Eleanora because a lot of this story is inspired by her songs and ended up building her character very much around her. That's also why there'll be Marina references out the wazoo.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Tony and Eleanora continued to sit with each other in physical chemistry. There was something about sharing the cause of your deep-seated psychological issues and unfulfilling childhood that bonded people, even if their memories of the night were a little foggy from the booze. 

"I don't know what's going to happen after college," Eleanora stated as the two walked out of the library. "Mum and Dad want me to do what they want, but... there's a fork in the road, and I'm scared that I'll do as I'm told because I don't know who I want to be." 

"What makes you happy?" Tony asked. "Or what do you think _would_ make you happy?" 

Eleanora pressed her lips together in thought. "I don't know... but... not med school." 

"So don't go to med school," he shrugged. 

"It's not that simple." 

"Why not? You can't spend years of your life doing something that you know won't make you happy." 

"Well, I mean... I _can."_

Tony flicked her on the side of the head, causing her to give a quiet shout of pain and smack his hand away. 

"Look-" 

She was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She muttered an apology and dug through her backpack to find it. "Hello?" 

" _Hey, baby!_ " Tucker's voice greeted her. _"Are you busy right now?_ " 

"Why? What do you need?" she questioned, eyebrows furrowing in concern. 

_"Can you... can you talk dirty to me_?" 

Her jaw dropped slightly and her cheeks heated up as Tony looked at her curiously, having no idea what was happening on the other end of the line. She turned her body slightly. 

"Uh, now is really not a great time, babe, can I call you back later?" 

" _Come on, baby, I've been super stressed out lately and I need a release_." 

"What have you been stressed about?" 

_"What, you don't think that I have a valid reason to be stressed out?_ " he demanded, having taken her question the wrong way. 

Eleanora pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, I'm just asking so that I can help you. That's not at all what I meant." 

" _Could you come over tonight?_ " 

"Sure, babe," she agreed softly. 

" _After five._ "

"Um, okay?"

_"I've just got some errands to run before everything closes, that's all. Maybe make it five-thirty just to be on the safe side, so you're not waiting for me to get home."_

"You know, if you gave me a key we wouldn't have this problem," she rolled her eyes fondly.

" _I'm getting on it_ ," he dismissed.

"Alright, after five-thirty then. I'll see you then."

" _Wear something sexy. I love you._ "

"You know I will. I love you too." Eleanora cleared her throat as she hung up. "Sorry about that." 

"Boyfriend?" Tony guessed in an amusement. 

"Yeah, he's been stressed out lately so he wants some company."

"Company or _company?_ " he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

He let out a yelp when she hit him roughly on the arm in response. "What? It's a natural thing, no need to be shy about it," he defended. "Does he go here?" 

"No, he's... older." 

He raised an eyebrow. "How much older?" 

"He's twenty-five. It's not- it's not _that_ weird." 

Tony just nodded. "What's his name?"

"Tucker," she answered. 

"His name is _Tucker_?" 

"Stark-" 

"Sorry. But come on... what's his last name?"

Eleanora hesitated for a second. 

"It's something weird isn't it?" Tony snickered. 

"Oates," she sighed. 

"Tucker Oates."

"Oh, shut up. I need to go now."

"You _cannot_ marry him. Or if you do, at least keep your name. You can't be Eleanora Oates, stay Eleanora..."

He struggled for a moment, and despite acting as though he was trying to remember her last name, she suspected he'd never known it in the first place. 

"Myers," she finished for him. "Eleanora Myers." 

"See, that's a much better name. Please don't take his name." 

"Stark!" she sighed exasperatedly. 

"Okay, okay!" he held his hands up in surrender, although the smirk never left his face. 

At that moment, Eleanora caught sight of Maddie approaching, licking her lips with unnecessary effort, and wrinkled her nose in disturbance. She wasn't passing judgement on her sexual life - Eleanora thought the idea of shaming someone for the number of people they slept with was ridiculous, and Maddie could sleep with whomever she wanted. What she didn't like was the girl's manipulative tendencies.

"You can do better than that," she muttered quietly to Tony, who looked confused until Maddie called his name from behind. "I'll see you tomorrow." 

Eleanora made her way back to her apartment off-campus, and flopped down heavily on her bed. She honestly just wanted to spend her night finishing off some assignments and then reading in her bed, but she'd already promised she'd go to Tucker's house. There was no doubt what she'd really been doing that night - there was rarely an occasion that Eleanora went to his house and they didn't have sex - which was, by no means, a bad thing. And normally Eleanora was one to take a night out (not that going to his house was really 'out', but it was out of her apartment) over a night in, but she really wasn't in the mood. Nevertheless, when the time came, she pulled on some lingerie, slipped into a dress, popped a piece of chewing gum in her mouth and called a taxi to pick her up. 

When Tucker let her in, she gave him a peck on the lips, however, when she went to pull away, he pulled her closer and kissed her hungrily, causing her to erupt into giggles. 

"I'm trying to be passionate and sexy and you just laugh!" he huffed playfully.

"I'm sorry, it just took me by surprise!" she laughed, kissing him again. "Now, I'm gonna guess from the burnt smell that we're not having a home-made meal for dinner?" 

"I'm sorry," Tucker apologised sheepishly. 

"Don't apologise for making an effort," she immediately shook her head. "So what if it didn't work out? Besides, I'm not sure about you, but I'm not overly hungry right now anyway..." 

He grinned as her hands trailed down his chest, a coy smile pulling at her lips. He grabbed one of her hands and guided her to his bedroom. She separated herself from him for a moment and put her gum in the bin, but paused when she caught sight of the shopping back stuffed behind it. The lacy red fabric inside made her blink. 

"Oh, crap, that was meant to be a surprise," Tucker groaned. 

Eleanora pulled the contents out in amusement, quirking an eyebrow at the revealing lingerie. 

"That.. was not a good hiding spot," she snickered. "Why did you tell me to wear something sexy when you already had something prepared? Not to mention, I don't know why I need to bother when they don't stay on very long anyway," she added teasingly. 

"Don't act like you don't love it," he shot back, unbuttoning his shirt. 

"You make a compelling argument," she smirked. 

**• • •**

The following morning, Eleanora woke up beside Tucker, his legs tangled with hers. He stirred as she pulled herself away and sat on the edge of the bed. She sniggered when he let out a cross between a whine and a groan, grabbing needily at her hips. She brushed him off with a laugh and made her way into the bathroom to use the toilet, but paused with a smile when she saw an extra toothbrush by the sink. 

"Is this toothbrush for me?" she called. 

"Who else'd it be for?" he responded, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. 

"Is this a hint that you want me around more?" she prompted, twisting around in his arms. 

"Dental hygiene is very important, baby," he grinned innocently. 

"Exactly, so shoo while I clean my teeth." 

Although she would have much preferred to spend the rest of the morning at Tucker's house, she had work to catch up on and a couple classes to attend, so she reluctantly showered, called a taxi and headed back to the university. 

As she made her away across the campus to her apartment, a loud whistle caught her attention. She spotted Tony jogging towards her, a large smirk plastered on his face. 

"Is this the walk of shame?" he taunted. 

Eleanora lifted her chin and folded her arms. "You can't do the walk of shame if you're not ashamed." 

"I like that attitude." 

She took in his rather messy appearance - his wrinkled clothes were clearly thrown on without much thought, and his hair had obviously not been touched since he woke up. "Are _you_ doing the walk of shame?" 

His smile widened. "You can't do the walk of shame if you're not ashamed," he repeated her words. 

She rolled her eyes. "Look, I need to get back to my apartment and _you_ clearly need to shower, so-" 

"Rude." 

"I'll be going now." 

"Alright, alright. I'll be in the library this evening if you want to join me," he added. 

She wasn't sure if it was an active invitation or if he was just letting her know where he'd be if she felt like joining him. There was a very fine line between the two ways of interpreting the offer, but when she remembered the work she was planning to do the previous night, she decided she didn't particularly care. 

"Yeah, okay," she shrugged. "I'll see you there. 

**• • •**

After her last class, Eleanora returned to her apartment to dump everything she didn't need and headed off towards the library. When she walked in, she spotted Tony tucked away at a table in the corner of the room, and went over to join him. 

"You actually came," he said in surprise when she sat down. 

"Did you not actually _want_ me to come?" she asked, wondering if he had only been joking when he asked. 

"Not at all, you just didn't sound very enthusiastic when I asked." 

"Next time I'll be sure to jump for joy, then," she teased, reaching into her bag. "Oh, for fuck's sake." 

"What's wrong?" 

"I must have accidentally grabbed my organic chem notebook instead of my physical chem one. I'm a fucking idiot. I'm going to go all the way back to my apartment to get the dumb book and then I'll be back," she sighed. 

"I'll come with you," he offered, packing up his things. 

"It's a ten minute walk from here." 

"That's not far. Besides, my back is killing me." 

"Alright, old man." 

He scowled, and Eleanora laughed, leading the way out of the building. 

"So, how was your day?" he asked, and she blinked in surprise at the question. 

"Uh... it was okay, I guess. I got a lot of study done between classes, but I didn't really do much else, to be honest... wow, that sounds sad. What about you?" 

"Yeah, it was good. I only had one lecture, then I spent most of the afternoon working on a personal project, and then I came here." 

"What kind of personal project?" 

"Well, about three or four years ago, I made a robot called Dum-E in my dad's workshop and I brought him with me to make modifications and improvements to when I get bored." 

"That's... really cool." 

"Thanks. I can show him to you one day, if you like." 

"Really? That would be fantastic!" 

When they reached her apartment, Eleanora took out her key, unlocked the door, and made her way to her bedroom to start digging through the messy pile on her bed. 

"Where's your roommate? Kate, right?" 

"Katie. And I'm not sure exactly, but probably in someone's dorm."

"Ah," he nodded in understanding. 

Eleanora glanced down at the notebook in her hands with a sigh of reluctance, wondering if Tony would hate her if she said she couldn't be bothered going back to the library. 

"Not feeling it?" 

"Did I say that out loud?" she asked in mild horror, causing him to bark out a laugh and shake his head. 

"You just looked like you wanted to set it on fire. Besides, you said you did a lot of study today, and it looks like it too." 

"What do you _mean_ it 'looks like it'?" she asked, affronted. "Actually don't answer that, I'm well aware I look dead inside." 

"That isn't _exactly_ what I meant, _but_..." Tony trailed off with a smirk. "Look, we don't have to go to the library. Don't feel obligated to do something just because past you said you would. That was a completely different person, and you're so much _wiser_ now-" 

Eleanora cut him off with a playful shove. 

"I'm kind of not in the mood right now, anyway," he continued. "I'll just go and I'll see you tomorrow-" 

"But you came all this way," she interrupted guiltily. "Do you wanna stay for a bit...?" 

Tony shook his head and grinned. "You get this one for free, but from now on, my escort services will cost you." 

"I have booze?" she offered, opening the fridge. 

"You know what, on second thoughts..."


	6. Puppy Face

  
Eleanora took a deep breath as she came out of the bathroom stall, recomposing herself after her minor breakdown. She washed her hands, made sure her eyes were dry, fixed her hair, adjusted her clothing and popped a piece of gum in her mouth as she left the bathroom. Her head was throbbing slightly so she hurried outside for some fresh air, allowing herself to calm down and relax for a few minutes while she sat at a bench. Although, what was meant to be a few minutes ended up turning into a half an hour, because she was just too comfortable curled up on the seat enjoying the break in the cold weather. Her peace was disrupted, however, when Tony joined her.

She was about to make some quip about him ruining her zen, when he spoke up.

"What did you mean I can do better? Because... that's not really your place."

Eleanora frowned and sat up to look at him properly. He wasn't looking at her, but there was a troubled expression on his face. "Sorry?"

"The other day when you saw Maddie and you said 'you can do better than that'."

"That... _was_ a pretty weird thing to say," she admitted. "I didn't mean to be rude, I just think you can find someone... better than her."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" he demanded, turning to look at her.

"Don't get shitty with me," Eleanora chided, crossing her arms. "I said that like a week ago, if you're bringing it up now, it's for a reason. If she treats you well and makes you happy, then that's fine. I just know that, to a lot of other people, she hasn't been very nice."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Maddie's really sweet."

"To _you_ , yes. Because she's manipulative and uses her charm to get what she wants. Trust me, I've known her since freshman year of high school."

Tony crossed his own arms. "Is it _that_ hard to believe that someone would want to date me for me?"

"No," she said calmly. "But my point is, I've seen her do this over and over again. Look, I haven't said anything before because I didn't want to upset you, but then I accidentally blurted that out and now that you asked, I'm not going to lie to you - even if it's not what you want to hear. If you just want her company, then go ahead, but I'm just warning you - don't let her fool you into thinking it's more than that."

Tony looked away and was silent for a moment before glancing back at her with an expression that didn't really feel right to Eleanora.

"Yeah, well, I've never really been one for long-term relationships, so," he shrugged, as if this was an answer.

"Okay, as long as you're happy," she replied, looking back out to the campus, missing the odd expression that flitted across his face. 

That afternoon, Eleanora was just finishing up her timeline of the rest of the week, which she had planned in great detail to ensure she could get all her assignments done, when her phone rang. 

_"Hey, baby,"_ Tucker greeted. _"I was thinking of doing homemade pizzas for dinner tonight, what toppings do you like?"_

Eleanora grimaced down at her plan for that night, which definitely didn't include going to his place. Thursday night was _their_ night, but she really needed to get this stuff done and she was going to tell him but now he had called her first and had already started planning dinner, which just made her feel really guilty for having to bail. 

"Babe, I was just going to call you..." she began hesitantly. "I really can't do tonight, I've got so much stuff to do for uni and I'm super stressed out and I really need to get it done." 

_"But... we always spend Thursday nights together,"_ he replied in a hurt tone. _"You sure you can't just squeeze more work into the weekend?"_

"I need to _sleep_ , Tucker," Eleanora rolled her eyes playfully. "Besides, I've got stuff due tomorrow." 

The man sighed. _"I just... I gotta say, El, it kind of feels like you could have avoided this."_

"What do you mean?" she frowned. 

_"Well, we always do Thursday night, and it's just funny to me that you wouldn't plan for that. It... it kind of feels like I'm not that important to you."_

"Tucker, you know that's not true. It's just been a busy week and I could really use tonight to get on top of things so I'm not really stressed. You're _so_ important to me, babe, but... so are my studies, you know? I promise I'll make it up to you next week." 

_"I'll just come to you instead, that way you'll have more time."_

"Babe," she groaned softly, "I really can't do tonight. I wish I could, but you'd basically just be watching me do my uni work." 

_"You really don't want to see me, do you?"_ he huffed. 

Guilt tugged at Eleanora's heart - she hated that she was making him feel this way, but there really wasn't anything she could do without risking failing some of her assignments. And what he said was true, she had procrastinated all week and if she had just done her work they wouldn't be in this situation. 

"Baby, of course I want to see you. But with spring break coming up, there's so much stuff due and I really need all the time I can get." 

"Alright," he sighed, evidently upset. 

"I love you," Eleanora said, hoping to reassure him. 

The call ended. 

Eleanora groaned and dropped her head on her desk, trying not to feel too relieved at the fact that Tucker being annoyed with her would mean he'd be less likely to interrupt her work. 

'I may be a terrible girlfriend, but at least I'm an okay student', she thought dully, pulling out a textbook. 

**• • •**

" _Won't you come see about me... I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby..."_ Eleanora sung quietly to herself on Sunday afternoon, concentrating on the daisy chain in her hands. She was currently sitting on the lawn, her back resting against the trunk of a tree. She'd had a very productive few days and only had a little bit of work to go, so decided to take a break and catch some sun. She hadn't seen Tony since their conversation on Thursday, and despite not usually seeing each other every day, she was worried that he was avoiding her for overstepping. That was, until-

"Ah, there you are. I've been looking for you."

Tony plonked down on the grass in front of her and she was relieved when she didn't see any signs of anger. If anything, he looked slightly... nervous?

"Hey," she greeted, placing the half-formed chain down on the ground.

"Hey. Look, I'm sorry about the other day. I got really weird on you... and rude. It's just that I really respect your opinion but I also really like Maddie so that was hard to hear, but we'd had a fight and I just..."

Guilt flooded Eleanora as he trailed off with a sigh and she opened her mouth to apologise, but he cut her off before she could.

"And I don't want you to apologise, because you're right. I asked the question and you just answered honestly, which I really appreciate. Not many people are honest with me. Except my dad!" he added brightly. "But that's more along the lines of 'you're a disappointment" and 'you're going to ruin your life'. Anyway, just wanted to get that out there."

"Thank you, Tony," she said sincerely, wondering whether or not to acknowledge the remarks about his father.

She watched him for a moment as he opened and closed his mouth a couple times, clearly not sure how to phrase whatever it was he wanted to say. "Just spit it out," she prompted. 

"I feel like no matter how I ask this, it's going to sound rude-" 

"Just say it." 

"Whenever I see you, you're on your own or occasionally with your roommate. Do you have... other friends?" 

Eleanora ducked her head slightly to conceal how touched she was by the fact that he said 'other friends' because it implied he considered himself to be her friend. Realising he was waiting for a response, she cleared her throat and looked back up at him. 

"Growing up... my parents drilled it into my mind that friends would just slow me down and distract me. I wasn't allowed anyone over, and I wasn't allowed to go to anyone's house. I made friends at school, but since I couldn't go anywhere or do anything, it was kinda hard to maintain. I had friends, but I never had any proper, _close_ friends. Now, they don't have that much control over who I talk to, but I guess I just got used to being alone. Katie's my friend, but we don't have that much in common. We only met because I needed a roommate... we're kind of just friends because it's convenient. All my life I've been so lonely, all in the name of being holy."

"Jesus Christ," Tony muttered. "At least my Dad had the decency to not give a shit about me and not care what I was doing whenever I left the house." 

Eleanora smiled slightly. "So, to answer your question, no - I don't have friends."

" _Other_ friends," he corrected. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

"You don't have to do this," she sighed quietly. 

"Do what?" 

"Pity me." 

"I don't pity you, I want to be your friend because you're... different- in a good way. You don't put up with my bullshit, but you still stand up for me. And you're one of the only people who talks to me because you want to, not because you want something from me."

Eleanora's heart dropped slightly at the thoughtless confession. He, too, seemed to realise the rawness of what he had said and immediately brushed it off with a casual laugh. 

"That sounded dramatic. _Anyway_ , the point is, I want to be your friend, Lenny. But if you don't want that, then I'll back off..." 

He trailed off, asking her a silent question and she bit her lip, reluctant to admit what she really felt. But then she thought back to their snarky conversations, their whispers back and forth during lectures and that night they had a few drinks in her room and just chatted the whole night. Her parents had made out that friends were difficult and distracting and not of use, however, with Tony, it was relatively easy, she liked talking to him and they had fun. She wanted to get to know him better because she could tell that he was a complex person, made of many different layers, and she didn't see what could go wrong. She couldn't see how being friends with him would derail her career or ambition. 

Eleanora really wanted a best friend. She always had, but struggled a lot because not many people appreciated her bluntness or awkwardness, among many other undesirable traits. She cared for Katie, she really did, but that just wasn't their relationship. Yet, here was Tony Stark, _asking_ to be her friend. She wanted to be his friend, she didn't want him to 'back off', but some invisible force was silencing her. _Don't make yourself vulnerable like that_. 

But Eleanora had spent her life avoiding making herself vulnerable and where had that gotten her?

"Don't," she mumbled, looking away. 

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Tony asked, despite definitely hearing her. 

"I said 'don't'," she spoke up. 

"I can't hear you."

"I SAID 'DON'T'!" she yelled with a laugh. 

"Don't what?"

Eleanora sighed, returning his amused grin with a flat expression. "Don't back off."

"There we go!" he cheered, but his grin faltered when she bit her lip. "What's wrong? Already regretting it?"

"No, it's just... I'll try to be a good friend, Tony, but I'm just warning you that I..I'm not very good at it. My parents, they... they _trained_ me to think that friends didn't matter and now I'm no good to anyone 'cause I all I care about is being number one." 

Tony looked at her for a moment. "I don't believe that. If you were no good to anyone and only cared about being number one, then why did you stand up for me when that guy called me an asshole?" 

"Because that was rude and unfair and he should know that. It was the right thing to do." 

"Well, there you go. You care about doing the right thing, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for most people I meet." 

**• • •**

Two weeks after finally establishing they they were, in fact, friends, Eleanora and Tony were walking out of a lecture together, when he suddenly shoved her around a corner and pressed himself against the wall. 

"I saw Maddie," he responded to her incredulous look. 

"And you hide from your _girlfriend_ now?" 

"She's just been a bit... intense lately." 

"If _before_ wasn't intense, I don't even _want_ to know what's going on," Eleanora shook her head. "Why don't you just have a mature conversation with her?" 

"Because... I don't think she'd respond well to that." 

"Actually, you've got a point. She's kind of... volatile." 

"Can you check if she's still there?" he asked. 

"Oh, come on," she scoffed, but peered around the corner. "Yep, she's still there." 

"Do you want to come meet Dum-E?" Tony asked suddenly. 

"Uh, sure." 

Tony led her out the back of the building and across campus to one of the robotics labs, which housed a large number of robots, and he led her to a particularly big one in the corner. 

"Woah, that is so much bigger than I was imagining," she commented, looking at the giant arm of a robot with three prongs at the end. "I was picturing a little toy robot thing." 

"I'm offended that those were your expectations of me," he scoffed. 

"You made this _three years_ ago? That's insane." 

"Yeah... won MIT's Annual Robot Design Award for him." 

Tony crouched down and fiddled with the base for a second, and then suddenly the machine started making various whirring noise and moved around - somewhat excitedly. Then Dum-E reached its arm out towards Eleanora, and she hesitated for a moment before awkwardly grabbing its 'hand', giggling when it shook her own. 

"I have to shut him off when I'm not here in case he... misbehaves," Tony explained. 

Dum-E then reached over to the bench, grabbed a mug and offered it to her. 

"Don't drink that," he quickly warned her a she took it in her hands. "He keeps making drinks that are definitely not fit for human consumption. He's a bit stupid... hence the name, but he's still useful." 

"He might save your life one day," Eleanora theorised, swirling the substance around in the mug. 

"For some reason, I highly doubt that," he replied dryly as Dum-E moved his way around the lab, crashing into chairs and tables. 

"I love him already." 

"That makes one of us." 

Dum-E stopped and turned to him, making a low whirring sounds. 

"You made him sad, you monster!" Eleanora gasped, giving Tony a light shove. 

"He doesn't have feelings - he's a robot!" 

"A robot who you're referring to as 'he', indicating sentience" she shot back. "Besides look at that puppy face." 

"He doesn't even _have_ a face." 

"That's the crazy part," Eleanora whispered dramatically. "Can he play fetch?" 

"He's not a dog, Lenny," Tony rolled his eyes in amusement. "But... yes." 

"Oh, what a good, smart boy!" she cooed, causing the machine to whir excitedly and Tony to shake his head. "Aren't you a sweetheart?" 

"Aw, thank you, I'm flattered," he smiled innocently, only to scowl when she flicked his nose. 

"Not you, you moron. You won't ever throw him away, right?" 

"Uh, well, I hadn't really thought about it, but I'm assuming when I make more advanced robots, I won't really have a use for him-" 

"Oh, you can't!" she objected. "Promise me you'll never throw him away and always keep him." 

"Lenny, come on-" 

"Promise me!" 

"Yeesh, okay, fine, I won't throw him away," he surrendered, holding his hands up. 

"Good," she grinned. "So they just let you keep him in here?" 

"You could say that." 

Eleanora glanced at him with raised eyebrows. 

"I just left it in here and no one's said anything or moved him, because everyone that uses this room just assumes it's a student project from another class and touching other people's projects is a big no-no." 

"When are you graduating?" she asked curiously. "Because you did MIT in two years so I'm assuming this won't take you the full four." 

"Next year, probably," he answered. "Will you come?" 

"To see you graduate with your spite degree? Yeah, of course, wouldn't miss it." 

"This is the kind of support I need," Tony joked, placing a hand over his chest. "Do you wanna grab something to eat? I could go a cheeseburger." 

"No thank you, I've already eaten," she declined politely. 

"Good for you, now you can eat more." 

"Tony," she rolled her eyes, "I'm really not hungry. Besides, I was about to head to Palo Alto to do some shopping." 

"You know, that is _uncanny._ I _also_ need to do some shopping. I'll just come with you and get myself a cheeseburger while you conform to meal times." 

"You're a parasite," Eleanora shook her head, despite the smile on her face. 

Tony's jaw dropped. "You pronounced ' _awesome friend'_ wrong, but I'll let it slide if you shout my cheeseburger." 


	7. Powerful Jaws

Eleanora sat across from Serena in the booth of a coffee shop her sister had taken her to, feeling rather skittish. Since their last phone call, in which Serena had told her to correct her pathway and Eleanora responded by saying, 'I already have', she really wasn't exactly sure where they stood. She didn't doubt that Serena had told their mother and father about the phone call, nor did she doubt that either of them were too happy with her. 

When she agreed to have coffee with Serena, she anticipated being scolded for the way she spoke to her and being told that she was being a disrespectful daughter, bla, bla bla - to which she would then get a few things off her chest in a not-so-calm manner. She was completely thrown off, however, when Serena teared up and pulled her into a hug upon her arrival. 

"I'm sorry for being so harsh, Ellie," Serena sniffled, "And I _miss_ you, I miss you so much and I don't tell you enough that I love you." 

Eleanora had come into this ready to knock horns with her sister once again, but seeing Serena's miserable expression took the wind out of her, and she found herself instinctively reaching to comfort her. Serena was her sister, first and foremost, and in that moment, it didn't matter that their parents always told Eleanora that she should just be more like her. 

"I love you too, Siri," she replied, grabbing on of her hands. "And I miss you too... you and your nagging." 

"I don't _mean_ to nag you," Serena giggled. "I just... I see so much potential in you, El, and I don't want you to waste it. I want the best for you - as do Mum and Dad." 

Eleanora's smile faded, the hope bubbling in her chest fizzing out and coming to a halt. 

"It's not too late to transfer into another course for August if you change your mind and want to do something else-" 

"Like political science? Or law? Or medicine?"

"Yeah-" 

" _No_ , Siri, I'm not interested in that." 

"Okay, okay! Look, I get that you don't want to be a politician or a lawyer, but if you like chemistry and biology and all that, I don't see why you don't like the sound of medicine. You can major in biochemistry or biomedical ethics or cancer biology - neurobiology sounds interesting-" 

"Siri!" Eleanora cut her off pleadingly. "I don't want to be an MD. I don't know what I want to do! I like biology but that doesn't mean I want to dedicate my life to it. Besides, I prefer chemistry, which you'd know if you actually listened to me. I know they want the best for me, but they don't know what that is! How can you think that pursuing a career I don't want is the best for me?" 

"You might actually like it, though," Serena pushed. 

"I don't know why I bother," Eleanora groaned to herself, rubbing her face with her hands. 

"I'll drop it, okay?" the older sister resigned. "But only if you promise you'll come home for spring break. Mum and Dad really miss you and want to see you while you don't actually need to be at the uni." 

"Okay," she sighed heavily. "I promise." 

"Do you wanna demolish an excessive amount of food with me?" 

Eleanora laughed at the olive branch Serena was presenting, but bit her lip in hesitation. "Yeah, okay. For old time's sake." 

**• • •**

"I swear, every time I see you, you're chewing gum," Tony pointed out when Eleanora slumped into the couch opposite him in one of the student lounge's that afternoon. 

"I like gum," she shrugged. 

"Okay, Violet Beauregarde." 

"Don't mess with me, I have very powerful jaws." 

"What, are you going to bite me? I'm really not into that." 

"All the more reason not to provoke me then," Eleanora teased, stretching out to lie down. 

Tony sniggered and watched as she continuously shifted about trying to get comfortable before letting out a huff and ended up lying on her stomach with her head facing Tony, hair falling over her face and an arm dangling down to the floor. "You good?" 

"This is _not_ a comfortable sofa." 

"How did things go this morning?" 

Eleanora twisted her body around so she was on her back. "Uh, not like I expected. She was really upset when I got there, saying she was sorry for being harsh and that she really missed me and stuff - which is really nice, obviously. But _then_ she started the spiel of 'we just want the best for you' and trying to convince me to switch to medicine and my hope kinda just went-" she whistled lowly and made a diving motion with her hand. "But then she kinda gave up and we ate a heap of food together." 

"That's... good?" 

"Yeah, all things considered."

"What are you doing for spring break?" he asked after a pause. 

"Uh, I was just gonna go home and catch up on some study-" 

"I'm going to stop you right there. Rhodey and I are going to travel down the coast - do you wanna join us?" 

"Really?" Eleanora asked, sitting up. 

"Yeah, why not?" he shrugged. 

_Only if you promise you'll come home for spring break._

"Yeah, okay," she grinned. "Your friend won't mind me being there, will he?" 

"No, not at all. He wants to meet you, actually." 

Eleanora felt a bubble of warmth inside her - for Rhodey to want to meet her, it meant that Tony had told him about her. And the fact that she meant enough to someone for that person to tell someone else about her made her smile. 

"I'd love that." 

**• • •**

Eleanora floated on her back in Tucker's pool, letting the water hold her up and drift slowly and aimlessly along the surface. A grin grew on her face when she heard Tucker wading towards her, and moments later, he was pulling her upright and against his own body, letting her wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Their lips met and Eleanora let out a giggle before pulling out of his grasp and wading away from him, eyeing him with a coy smile. 

"Guess who has plans for spring break now?" 

"That is not what I was expecting you to say," Tucker laughed, moving towards her. "What plans might they be?" 

"I'm going on a road trip down the coast." 

"By yourself?" 

"No, no - with a friend from college and his best friend." 

Tucker froze and looked at her bewilderment. " _His?_ You're going away for two weeks with two guys who I've never met and you expect me to be okay with this?" 

"Tucker, they're my _friends_ ," Eleanora frowned. "Besides, I'm in college, I'm meant to travel and do fun stuff for spring break." 

"You can't honestly expect me to be okay with this," he shook his head. 

Eleanora pressed her lips together, deciding to blurt out what she wanted to say before she chickened out. "You don't have to be." 

"Excuse me?!" 

"Babe, I'm not going to be in college forever, I want to have fun and do stupid shit while I can."

"You can't go away with two guys!" he raged.

"They both have girlfriends!" she argued, despite having no idea if Rhodey did or not. 

"Well, are their girlfriends going?"

"No..."

"Then why do they want to take _you_?"

Okay, that kind of hurt. She knew he didn't mean it like that, but it still upset her.

"Because we're _friends_!" Eleanora burst out. "Is it so hard to believe that people can be friends with someone of the opposite sex without wanting to fuck them?"

"Fine," Tucker spat, turning and lifting himself out of the water, wrapping a towel around himself and walking back inside the house, leaving her alone in the pool. 

Eleanora sighed and pulled herself out of the water. She towelled herself down and sat down on one of the lawn chairs for a while, thinking over the argument while she waited for herself to dry more. Eventually she made her way back inside and found Tucker watching TV in the living room. He looked at her when she entered, but didn't say anything, just redirected his attention to the screen in front of him. 

She let out another sigh and sat down beside him, taking his hand in hers. "Babe... I'm really sorry that I upset you. I should have been more considerate of your feelings. But... I _really_ want to do this. You know about my issue with friendships in the past and how my parents never let me do anything with friends and now I actually have the chance to. I love you... so much. But I'm also _really_ lonely at uni and this is my chance to actually change that." 

Tucker's expression softened with guilt, and he rubbed the back of her hand. "I'm sorry, Ellie, I wasn't thinking about that. I just don't want to lose you." 

"You're not _going_ to lose me, I'm just going on a road trip." 

"With two guys," he huffed. 

"Who - like me - are also in committed relationships. We're just friends, I promise you." 

"Okay, baby, but promise me you'll call me while you're away so I can hear your voice." 

"Of course," Eleanora beamed, leaning forward to capture him in a kiss. 

**• • •**

"Can I ask you something?" Eleanora asked Tony when they met up for breakfast two days later. 

"Sure." 

"Did Maddie have any... issues with this road trip?" 

"Uh, no. Why would she?"

"Well... because of me." 

Tony grimaced and scratched the back of his neck. "Ah. Yeah, I haven't told her that you're coming. She's a bit possessive and she's not that fond of you because of that very reason. Why? You told Tucker?" 

"Well, _yeah_ , I don't want to lie to him." 

"I'm guessing he wasn't a fan then?" 

"He wasn't all that impressed," she admitted. "We talked about it and he's okay with it now. He wants me to spend the last night before we go with him, though, so is it okay if you pick me up from his place?"

"Yeah, sure. We'll leave the Saturday morning and probably aim to pick you up around eight-thirty-ish so we have most of the day." 

"Alright, cool... does Rhodey have a girlfriend?" 

Tony looked at her with raised eyebrows and she grimaced. 

"That sounded weird - I'm only asking because I _may_ have told Tucker that he did just to get him to calm down a bit." 

" _I don't want to lie to him_ ," Tony imitated in a high-pitched voice, and she poked him harshly with her fork. "Ow!" 

"Look, that wasn't my proudest moment, but I've never done anything like this before and I've spent so long not doing stuff because of my parents, I'm not going to do the same for him. He can't pin me down like that. I love him, but he can't tell me what to do." 

Tony grinned and gave her a high-five. "Have some more food," he pushed her plate closer to her. "Positive reinforcement for self-respect." 

"I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself, unlike you," she gestured to the ketchup stain on his shirt. 

"I'm trying to support you and you call me out like that? Not fair." 

"Sorry," she grinned, taking a sip of her smoothie. "Anyway, I never actually asked you - how far down are we going? LA?" 

"Uh, not sure yet. We were kind of just going to wing it, and depending on how much time we have by the time we get to LA, we may go to San Diego or Vegas. We didn't want to plan it out thoroughly in case certain places have more or less to do than we thought. This way we're free to do what we want, and anything we don't have time for we can do another time," he finished with a shrug. "You don't get carsick, do you?" 

"I've never been on a road trip before, so... I guess we'll find out," she smiled. 

"Uh, yikes. Never mind that for now, can you drive?" 

"Yeah, I only use public transport here because, considering how infrequently I leave the campus, it's cheaper than running a car. So I can do some driving shifts if you need." 

"Awesome. That'll be really helpful. Also, feel free to bring any CDs you want to listen to in the car." 

"Thanks again for inviting me, Tony. If you change your mind or anything and just want it to be a boys trip, I won't be offended-" 

"Don't be an idiot, I asked you to come for a reason." 

"Yes, but a wise man once said to me, 'Don't feel obligated to do something just because past you said you would. That was a completely different person, and you're so much _wiser_ now.'" 

Tony let out a bark of laughter at her quoting his own words. "I can assure you, Lenny, that the invitation still stands," he rolled his eyes. "If it didn't, you'd know." 

Eleanora sniggered. "Good to know." 


	8. Rhode Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Road work ahead?

_"Hey, El, I didn't wake you, did I?"_

Eleanora stopped packing items in her suitcase, phone pressed to her ear. She knew she couldn't disappear for spring break without telling her family whom she'd promised to come home to, but up until now, she had ignored that fact. 

"Um, no, Siri, I was still up." 

_"Okay cool, I'm just ringing because Mum's wondering when you're coming."_

"Uh..." Eleanora hesitated. "Probably the end of the week." 

_"What? You promised you'd come home for spring break!"_ Serena objected. _"Mum and Dad are really excited to see you."_

"I think you mean they're excited to get another chance to harangue me about my future, but anyway, I never said I'd _be_ home the whole time, I said I'd _come_ home, meaning at _some_ point for _some_ currently undetermined length of time. I'm actually leaving tomorrow morning for a road trip with a couple friends. Not sure when we'll be back, but I'll make sure I stop in." 

_"El, you and I both know this will just make things worse. Just come home."_

"Bye, Siri, I love you," she finished, and hung up the phone. 

The feeling of simultaneous liberation and dread she felt when she place the phone back on the mount made her realise what she liked so much about spending time with Tony. Between Tucker, her sister and her parents, he was one of the only people in her life who wasn't trying to control her. With an extra spring in her step, she continued packing, up until Tucker insisted she do the rest the following morning and come to bed with him so he could give her a 'proper goodbye'. 

**• • •**

Eleanora was ready twenty minutes early, which she was rather proud of considering her current state. The previous night, Tucker had been... well... _rough,_ and although she wasn't complaining at the time, she was now quite sore and uncomfortable and and walked incredibly stiffly. 

Not long later, there was a knock on the door, and she grabbed her stuff and struggled over to the door. When she opened the it, she was greeted by Tony and a taller man who she presumed was Rhodey. 

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Rhodey," the man smiled. 

"It's nice to meet you, too," she returned. "I'm Eleanora, but you can call me Nora. Or... any variation of the name, like this one does," she added, jerking her head toward Tony. 

"Tucker didn't want to say hello to us?" the man in question piped up, glancing over her shoulder. 

"He's still asleep. I figured I wouldn't bother waking him." 

"Long night?" he teased.

Eleanora just threw him a look and started carrying her bags out to the very nice car parked out the front. 

"You good there?" Tony asked in amusement, noticing her awkward gait. 

"Mhm!" she responded, dumping her luggage in the boot. 

"I know that walk."

"I'm sure you do," she shot back snarkily, throwing him a dirty look.

"If you're calling me a whore-" Tony began.

"Let's get going, shall we?" Rhodey cut him off, opening the passenger side door. 

Eleanora climbed into the backseat, meanwhile Tony got into the driver's seat, and then the car was backing out of the driveway, and heading off down the road. 

"Would you be able to get out the map, honey bear? Once I get onto Route One, I'll be fine, but _someone_ made us detour just so her boyfriend could-" 

"Finish that sentence, I _fucking_ dare you," she cut him off and he snapped his mouth shut before flashing her a cheeky grin in the rearview mirror. 

"What CDs did you bring?" 

Eleanora fished through her backpack and pulled some out. "Uh, ELO, Elton John, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, and the B-fifty-two's." 

"Could've picked Joan Jett, but I definitely wouldn't have guessed the B-fifty-two's," Tony commented, raising his eyebrows slightly. 

"Their music is very catchy!" she replied defensively. 

"I swear to god, if you say Rock-" 

"Rock Lobster is groovy." 

"Rhodey, back me up here, it's a terrible song." 

"It's... a terrible song," Rhodey agreed. 

"What kind of music do _you_ listen to then?" 

"ACDC, Guns N Roses, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Clash," Tony began listing. 

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you like rock. What about you, Rhodey?" 

"I can listen to pretty much anything," the man shrugged. 

"But not Rock Lobster?" 

Rhodey laughed and shook his head, "Sorry."

"So how long have you guys known each other?" Eleanora asked, leaning forward. 

"Since open day at MIT," Rhodey replied. "I was doing tours and saw this punk-ass little fifteen year old kid who looked like a lost puppy and figured he needed a babysitter... and here we are, three years later." 

"Was he a good student at MIT?" 

"Depends how you define that," he laughed. "He got excellent grades and obviously finished in half the time but he hardly studied or rocked up to classes."

"Okay, it wasn't _that_ bad," Tony scoffed. "You're exaggerating." 

"Not as much as I wish I was." 

"Oh _please_ , like _you_ were a star pupil." 

"How is he at Stanford?" Rhodey asked Eleanora, changing the subject with rather poor subtlety. 

"Well, he comes to all the physical chem classes, but I don't know about his other topics." 

"What about you? What's your plan when you're out of college?" 

She saw Tony's expression shift slightly, obviously aware that it was somewhat of a stressful topic for the young woman, but she wasn't that fazed. After all, Rhodey wasn't one of her family members or professors who had high expectations of her and wanted her to have her life planned out - he was just trying to get to know her. And that wasn't so bad. 

"I'm not really sure yet," she shrugged, "I'm majoring in chemistry, but I'm not really sure what I plan on doing with that." 

"That's fair enough," he nodded. "Some people know exactly what they want to do at a really young age, but that wasn't me either. It's hard having to make decisions about your entire future at this age, but you'll find your calling." 

"Thanks, Rhodey," she smiled. "What's your last name, anyway?" 

"Rhodes." 

"Wait... so your name is Rhodey Rhodes?" 

The two men burst into laughter and she felt her face heat up in embarrassment, not sure what was so funny to warrant that reaction. 

"No, no, it's James Rhodes." 

" _Oh_ ," she snorted. " _That_ makes more sense." 

It took about forty-five minutes to travel from Palo Alto to San Gregorio, where they turned off the highway to stop off at the beach. Eleanora was the first to reach the edge of the clifftop and looked around at the stunning scene in awe, holding her hair back to prevent it from whipping her in the face. 

"This is gorgeous... I'm kind of sad we won't be here at sunset." 

"Lenny, the whole trip will be driving down the coast, I assure you the sunset will be just as good in Santa Cruz," Tony promised with a snicker. "You see, the sun is pretty big, so-"

"Oh, don't be a twat." 

" _Twat,_ " Tony mocked in her accent, only to yelp when she jabbed him hard. 

"You deserved that," Rhodey sniggered. 

"Oh, come on, it's funny when she talks in her accent." 

"That's how I always talk," she frowned, crossing her arms over chest. 

"Exactly- OW!" 

He pouted and rubbed the spot on his ribs where she'd jabbed him again. 

"Do you really want to piss me off when we're standing next to a cliff?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. 

"I'm just messing with you," he grinned, reaching up to pat her on the head. 

"You're not tall enough to do that," she said, smacking his hand away. "We're the same height." 

"She's got a point." 

"Thanks, Rhodey," she smiled, giving the man a high-five. 

"Traitor," Tony muttered. 

"Race you to the water!" Eleanora called, beginning to run down the hill to the beach. 

"What are you, twelve?" he scoffed. 

"Maybe, but at least I'm not a rotten egg!" 

"Oh, fuck that," he grumbled, taking off after her. "You coming, Rhodey? You don't want to be a rotten egg, do you?" 

_"Seriously,_ man?"

Having not expected him to actually chase after her, it didn't take long for Tony to catch up to her. She let out a shriek when he grabbed her around the stomach and flung her roughly down onto the sand. She immediately lifted her head up and sent him a harsh glare as she spat sand out of her mouth, only for Rhodey to fly past both of them, sprinting towards the water. 

Eleanora and Tony looked at each other, before both scrambling towards the shore again. Seizing her opportunity, Eleanora shoved Tony down to the ground, only for him to grab her ankle and send her crashing back down too. Fortunately, she was able to get to her feet quicker than him and ran towards Rhodey, who was standing ankle-deep in the water, watching the pair with an amused expression. 

Tony got to his feet and walked defeatedly to the water's edge, smiling innocently at Eleanora, who was glaring at him. 

"What? Did you think I'd go easy on you?" 

"No, but I didn't think you'd _slam_ me face-first into the sand like that!" 

"Yeah, man, that was pretty rough," Rhodey laughed. "Though, it was funny to watch." 

"I'm a very competitive person, don't challenge me." 

"Yeah, I think I've learnt that one," Eleanora muttered, getting sand out of her ear. 

"Oh, stop being such a pussy," Tony scoffed. "Do you want to go look at some of the caves?" 

"Alright, but we can't go too far north, that's the 'private' beach," Rhodey advised. 

"So, what you're _really_ saying-" 

" _No_ ," Rhodey and Eleanora cut off in unison, and Tony laughed. 

They spent half an hour exploring a few of the caves along the the cliffside before deciding they should hit the road again and heading back to the carpark. 

"Thank you again for inviting me to come with you guys," Eleanora said sincerely as the three of them brushed the sand of their feet. "This is so much fun." 

"This is just the first stop, Nora," Rhodey smiled. "We've got a long way to go." 

"Yeah, Lenny, this is only the beginning."

**• • •**

"I need to pee." 

"Do you want me to pull over?" 

"Oh, is there a toilet up ahead?"

"No, I just meant on the side of the road." 

Eleanora jerked her head back, affronted by Tony's suggestion. "It's all well and good when you have a willy you can just whip out, but in case it escaped your notice, I do not." 

"Well, you're just going to have to hold it until the next rest area, then." 

"Alright, but I've had a lot of fluids today, so make haste." 

"You mean drive over the speed limit?" Tony asked with mock scandal, raising his eyebrows. 

"Your words, not mine," Eleanora held her hands up. "Besides, you already were, you reckless git." 

"So you're telling me off for speeding _while_ coercing me into speeding more?" 

"Would you prefer I piss on your car seat?" 

"Uh, I'd really rather you didn't." 

"There's a stop in thirty miles," Rhodey interrupted. 

"Says who?" 

"Says the sign we just passed that you were too busy being a pain in the ass to notice," he replied flatly. 

"Oh, of _course_ you'd side with her," Tony rolled his eyes. 

"Look, man, I gotta go too."

When the got to the rest area, Eleanora and Rhodey went to the toilets meanwhile Tony made his way inside to get some more snacks. 

"I'll drive, you can rest," Rhodey said to Tony as they were making their way back to the car. "Nora, you're in the front." 

"Uh, what?" 

"Navigating," he answered with a grin, climbing into the driver's seat. 

"If you rely on me for navigating we'll end up in Canada!" Eleanora warned, hesitantly getting in the car. 

"It's okay, I know where I'm going," he assured her. "It's just an excuse to make him sit in the back," he continued, throwing a smirk over his shoulder at Tony, who rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, whatever, Sour Patch. " 

It was only 20 minutes later that that there was a small thud, and a bump on the road. 

"What the hell?" Rhodey muttered, immediately pulling the car over on the side of the road. 

"That was too small to be human," Tony shook his head. "Unless... it was just a really small child." 

Rhodey turned to glare at him before getting out of the car, followed by Eleanora and Tony. Eleanora grimaced at the sight of the slightly distorted form of the dead opossum. 

"That came out of nowhere, I didn't even see it," he furrowed his brows. 

Eleanora was well aware of the fact that an innocent creature had just lost its life, and the sight of the body greatly disturbed her. But the words were out before she could stop herself and evaluate the appropriateness of the comment. 

"Rhode kill." 

There was a short moment of silence before Tony snorted and Rhodey shot her an expression that told her he found it funny but didn't want to. 

"I can assure you," Tony began with a wide grin, "this isn't his first... Rhodey-o." 

Rhodey ran his hands over his face, which muffled his exasperated sigh. "I hate you both." 

**• • •**

Do to their frequent stopping, it was early evening by the time they arrived at their hotel in Santa Cruz. 

"There's your room," Tony said, handing Eleanora a keycard after checking in at reception. "I'm pretty sure it's across the hall from ours. Let's go."

It's not like she was expecting to be staying in old, dirty, cheap motels, but she certainly didn't anticipate how nice the rooms would be. Sure, her parents were wealthy, but they didn't really go anywhere as a family so places like this were new to her. They were spacious and elegantly decorated, with a _very_ comfortable king bed that she was looking forward to cocooning herself into. When she stepped into the bathroom and saw he massive tub and array of complimentary soaps, she instantly decided that she was going to have a bath that night. 

After they settled in, the trio headed to the beach to explore the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which was packed full of people who had come to experience the various rides, attractions and food the amusement park had to offer. 

"Holy shit," Eleanora breathed when they came to a stop in front of the Fireball. "Humans are _not_ designed to do that." 

"That's what makes it fun," Rhodey beamed. "You haven't been on any rides like this before?" 

"Nope," she shook her head. "And I don't plan on-" 

"C'mon," Tony interrupted with a wicked grin, heading towards the ticket booth.

"No way." 

"Yes." 

"No!" 

_"Yes!"_

Eleanora groaned in frustration. "Shouldn't I go on something a little... tamer first?" 

"Nope, we'll just jump right into it. Let's go," he insisted. 

"What if my earrings fall out?" she asked desperately, knowing it was a very slim possibility, but figured she'd try the excuse anyway. 

"They're not going to _fall out,"_ he scoffed. 

"You don't know that." 

"Fine, hand them over - I'll put them in my zip up pocket and they won't go anywhere." 

Eleanora pressed her lips together and stared at his hopeful face for a moment. " _Fine_." 

He and Rhodey both cheered and purchased three tickets for the ride, meanwhile Eleanora wondered what the hell she had signed up for. Yet, standing there with her two friends (she had labelled Rhodey as a friend rather quickly) in that chaotic but joyous place, and watching them shout excitedly over the noise... she may have been a little bit excited. 

Just a little bit. 


	9. Perjury Shmerjury

"If I bend over, I'll vomit," Eleanora declared in the elevator back up to their hotel rooms at 2 in the morning. 

Surprisingly, this had nothing to do with the numerous thrill rides she had gone on. This was purely due to the sheer amount of food she had consumed throughout the night, from food stalls at the amusement park as well as various restaurants around the city, which they had spent hours exploring after the Boardwalk closed for the night. Although the food was good, she was suffering a very intense and uncomfortable feeling of over-fullness and she had major regrets. 

"Then don't bend over," Tony supplied. 

"Thanks. The genius at it again." 

The elevator doors opened and the trio made their way down the hall. Eleanora said goodnight to the boys and shut herself in her room so she could hate herself in peace and spend some time bonding with the toilet. Although it was incredibly late, Eleanora was determined to have the bath she had promised herself. 

She let out a sigh as she sunk into the hot water, her body submerged beneath the thick layer of bubbles on the surface. Setting her portable CD player on the shelf next to her, she placed the earphones in her ears and let herself completely relax, humming along to herself. 

Eleanora took a moment to appreciate the position she was in, and how quickly she and Rhodey had bonded. The thought of going on a road trip with someone she hadn't met yet had been admittedly a little anxiety-inducing, but she had trusted that Tony's best friend wouldn't be a total dickhead. As it turned out, Rhodey was a very kind and mature young man with a much less chaotic energy than Tony. 

The skin on her hands and feet was beginning to prune up when Tony abruptly stumbled through the open door of the bathroom, causing Eleanora to jump and slide further under the water to cover herself. He looked somewhat panicked and had a small cut on his head from which a small amount of blood as trickling. His eyes met hers and he sighed slightly, not even bothering to turn away as he quickly surveyed the room. 

"Uh, hi?" she said confusedly, taking her earphones out. 

She had definitely locked the door to her room so she was extremely confused as to how and _why_ he was currently standing in her bathroom. 

"Get dressed and grab your stuff, you're staying in our room," he ordered. 

She just looked at him in bewilderment. "What? Why? How did you get in here? And why are you _bleeding_?" 

Tony frowned as he touched the small would on his head, obviously unaware he was bleeding. "I heard a weird noise so I looked out and saw your door was open and I caught some punk scrounging around. It looks like he made a master key." 

"A what?" 

"The software of some keycards isn't great - you can take any of the keycards, even an old out-of-use one and use it to create a master key card that can unlock any door in the hotel." 

Eleanora blinked at him incredulously. "That seems like a _bit_ of an issue. And that still doesn't explain why you're bleeding, did you fight him or something?" 

"Well, _yeah_ , he was trying to rob you," Tony scoffed. "I'm going to let Rhodey know and then go downstairs and find someone to explain what happened and give them a polite fucking reminder about security. Grab your things and go to our room. I'll be back in a bit." 

"What? Why?" she asked as he turned around to leave. 

He turned back around and looked at her like she was stupid. "Because you were just almost robbed," he said slowly. 

"So there's a fat chance it's going to happen twice in one night, yeah?" 

" _Lenny_." 

"Ugh, fine. But shoo, I'm naked." 

"Really? I hadn't noticed you were in the _bath_ or anything," he remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. 

"Well, you weren't leaving." 

"Yeah, because you were being a pain in the ass," Tony retorted, walking out of the bathroom and closing the door behind him. 

Eleanora sighed and rubbed her forehead. She just wanted to have a relaxing bath, but of course, some guy had gotten into her room and tried to steal from her without her even realising. She forced herself out of the warm water, wrapped a towel around herself and made her way back into the bedroom, only to jump slightly when she saw an unconscious body slumped over her bed, his face angled away. 

She didn't care if he wasn't conscious, she wasn't going to get changed with him there, so she grabbed her pyjamas and got changed in the bathroom. Going around the room to gather her things with an unconscious stranger in the room was unnerving to say the least, and now she had actually seen him, she was relieved to be going in Rhodey and Tony's room. 

Just because she was used to being alone, didn't mean she liked it. 

Eleanora was about to walk out of the door when she heard a low groan and saw the man stirring, causing her to panic. She did the first thing she could think of and, naturally, swung her fist at his face as hard as she could, the 'crack' that it made even surprising her. What surprised her even more was the swollen, bloody condition of his face that she definitely hadn't caused. 

"Nice," Tony complimented, grinning from the doorway. 

"That... that really hurt," she complained examining her knuckles. "It was worth it, but... ouchies." 

"Ouchies?" he repeated in amusement, stepping forward to grab her hand and check himself. "I think you'll make it." 

"Thanks, doc, I really wasn't- what the hell?" she cut herself off when she saw the state of his own hands, the skin around his knuckles darkening and splattered with blood. 

"It's mostly his," he shrugged. 

"Yeah, that's another thing - don't you think that was a _little_ extreme for a petty thief?" she demanded, gesturing to the intruder's face. "You couldn't have just tied him up or something?" 

"He could've been dangerous!" 

"I'm not kidding, Tony." 

"I'm sorry, who just punched him?" 

"I panicked!" 

"And you don't think _I_ did when I came in to find a strange man in your room and you were nowhere to be found? Speaking of which, why didn't you have your bathroom door closed?" 

"Because I was under the impression that having my room locked meant no one could get in! Besides, my bath was very bubbly." 

"Most of the bubbles were gone by the time I got there," he pointed out. 

Eleanora glared at him, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. "You're such a dick." 

"That didn't come out right," he cringed. "I didn't mean for that to sound pervy, I swear I wasn't looking or anything-" 

"Just shut up," she rolled her eyes. 

There was a gentle knock at the doorway, and the pair turned to face Rhodey and two police officers, who moved to apprehend the unconscious man. When they asked for their statements, Eleanora wanted to cry because she was honestly so exhausted, she just wanted to curl up on the floor and sleep. She was about to tell the woman that the man had been trying to attack her and Tony was only defending her when he spoke up first, shooting her a meaningful look before offering his honest recount of what had happened. Of course, then she had no choice but to tell the truth. 

Tony stared at her with a raised eyebrow after they left and she crossed her arms. "What?" 

"You were going to lie to them." 

"I was _not_." 

"Yeah, you were." 

"Fine, but I didn't want you to get sued for excessive force!"

"I can deal with a lawsuit," he shrugged. " _Perjury_ , on the other hand, can put you in _prison,_ Lenny _._ " 

"Only if you get caught," she muttered. 

"You're... insane."

"And really fucking tired, I just want to sleep," she moaned, flopping back on the bed dramatically. 

"Not here, you don't. Come on," he encouraged, tugging at her arm. 

Eleanora just let out an incoherent groan and shrugged him off. "It's like... four in the morning. I just wanna go to sleep!" 

"The sooner you get off your ass, the sooner you can." 

"Or... I could sleep right here, right now." 

"Don't make me carry you." 

"As if you could, I'm not exactly ligh- don't you fucking dare," she warned, suddenly rolling away to dodge Tony's hands when he reached forward to lift her up. "Fine, I'll get up, just don't try to pick me up." 

"Okay, okay," he surrendered, holding his hands up. "But hurry the fuck up, I wanna sleep too." 

Tony helped Eleanora carry her things across the hall to he and Rhodey's room. 

"You can take my bed," he offered, setting up a pillow and blanket on the couch. "I'll sleep here." 

"What? No, it's _your_ room, I'll grab the couch." 

"Lenny, don't argue with me. I'm sleeping on this couch, end of discussion." 

"Just sleep on the fuckin' bed," Rhodey mumbled from where he was lying in his bed across the room. 

"You should know that I would argue a lot harder if I wasn't so tired," she replied through a yawn. 

"I was counting on it," Tony smirked. "Tomorrow I'm calling the next hotel and putting us all in one room - I don't want to deal with that again." 

"Oh, come on, I'm _fine_." 

"Some random guy broke into your room where you were _alone_ , Lenny." 

"I can handle myself." 

"Yeah, you looked so threatening in the fucking bath," Tony responded sarcastically. "What would you have done if he tried to hurt you? Thrown a fucking loofah at him?" 

"Hey, have you ever had shampoo in your eyes? It hurts like a bitch." 

" _Lenny_ ," he groaned. "I'm not risking that happening again." 

"Was I almost robbed? Yes. But like I said before, if you look at it from a statistical point of view, it just means that now it's unlikely to happen again." 

"That is not how statistics works and I know you know that." 

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine," she insisted. "I'll be more careful-" 

"Forgive me for not wanting something to happen to the only person at college I tolerate!" he snapped. "Apart from Maddie," he tacked on with an expression she couldn't decipher. 

Eleanora and Tony stared at each other for a moment and she realised that all of this wasn't about Tony being nice or doing the right thing, he was legitimately concerned and was trying to look out for her. 

"Okay, Tony," she said softly. "But if I get annoying, just let me know, I won't be offended. I'd rather you just tell me than have me keep being a pain in the arse without realising." 

He pulled a face and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Rhodey. 

"Can you guys shut up? I'm trynna sleep." 

They both apologised and Eleanora muttered a goodnight before climbing into the ridiculously comfortable bed and wrapping herself tightly in the blankets. 

The following morning, as the three of them packed up their gear ready to hit the road again, Eleanora overheard Tony on the phone to the hotel they'd be staying at that night to adjust the room arrangements. She couldn't stop thinking about what he had said the previous night (well, earlier that morning) about her being the only person at college apart for Maddie that Tony tolerated. Sure, 'I tolerate you' wasn't the sweetest thing to say to someone, but she had a feeling that it held significantly more meaning in Tony language. 

And look, to be quite honest, the idea that Eleanora was tolerable was embarrassingly reassuring. As someone who was always concerned that she was being a bother, being told that she was tolerated was actually a relief. But she knew that that's not what Tony had meant. She was aware that he wasn't the greatest at communicating and that by saying he tolerated her, he really meant something more. Obviously, she knew they were friends but she didn't realise that he didn't particularly like anyone else at college. It made his choice to befriend her all the more confusing, because she thought there were plenty of students far less fucked up than her. 

Then again, maybe that was the point. 

The trio took a while to get going, but eventually managed to pack all their things back into the car, check out of the hotel and grab breakfast at a McDonald's drive thru on their way out of Santa Cruz before getting back onto Route 1 and heading off once again. 

"Do you have any plasters in here?" Eleanora asked, inspecting her hand. "I cut my finger last night but the one I put on is falling off." 

"Any what?" 

"Plasters. You know... the sticky things you put on cuts and stuff?" 

"You mean a _bandaid_?" Tony scoffed. "Yes, I do." 

"No, I mean a plaster," she retorted stubbornly. 

"Then no." 

"You just said you did!" 

"No, I said I have bandaids, I don't have these _plasters_ you're talking about." 

Rhodey sighed heavily from the backseat and buried his face in his hands. 

"They're the same thing, you git. Stop making fun of me." 

"Sorry, no can do. Would you like a _bandaid_?" 

Eleanora sighed. "Yes." 

"Yes, what?" 

"I'm not saying what you want me to. It's called a plaster." 

Tony pouted. "That's too bad, you'll just have to bleed everywhere." 

"Are you forgetting we're in _your_ car? I'm more than happy to leave blood stains on these lovely seats." 

The man paused for a moment, before huffing and passing her a small box. "Fine, you win this time." 

"I always do," Eleanora smiled sweetly at him.

Rhodey groaned. "I have regrets about agreeing to this."


	10. Cover Your Monkey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next one are just short and fun, but after that, I promise the story starts to get meatier

  
"A fake ID? Really?"

"We're on spring break, Lenny, this is what we're meant to do."

"How did you even get this photo of me?" Eleanora pulled a face, glancing down at the card. 

"Magic," Tony answered vaguely. "C'mon, we're in _LA_ , let's go to a bar and get hammered."

"You're okay with this?" she asked Rhodey.

"Hey, I'm just here to have a good time."

"Okay, that's good enough for me. Where are we going?"

Tony scoffed. "Oh, so you'll listen to _him."_

"Yep," Eleanora grinned. "He's much more trustworthy than you. Now let me go put on some clothes that would make my parents very sad and then let's hit the streets. I don't know about you two, but I'm planning on going pretty fucking hard tonight." 

And she wasn't lying. Not even two hours in and she was _quite_ drunk. By comparison, Tony looked to be pacing himself with the booze (which was certainly not the case). At some point, the two realised they had lost track of Rhodey, only to spot him sitting further down the bar talking to a pretty girl. Upon this discovery, the pair kept staring at Rhodey until he finally glanced over at them. They then made crude sexual gestures, causing him to hastily redirect his attention back to the girl in front of him and causing Eleanora and Tony to burst into fits of giggles. Much to their disappointment, Rhodey quickly decided to completely avoid looking at them, taking away their fun.

This led to Tony sitting at the bar and watching in amusement as Eleanora (in her words) 'threw shapes' on the dance floor (and if he scowled at the guys who got a bit too close, it was no one's business). She was visibly physically inhibited by the alcohol, as she kept staggering around and swaying unsteadily. But she was fine. 

"Look, mate, no offence, but I'm just trying to have fun, do my own thing," he heard her telling a guy who was trying to dance with her.

"British, I like it," the man responded with a smirk as she continued dancing as though he weren't there.

Tony narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Didn't ask. It's not happening," she replied bluntly, turning away from him, causing Tony to snort slightly into his drink. His amusement faded, however, when the man didn't get the hint.

"Oh, come on, you know you want it, sweetheart."

"I think the fuck not," Eleanora shot back scathingly as Tony stood up to intervene. "Begone now, or I'll bite your earlobes off."

The guy quickly moved away, and Tony shook his head in amusement, deciding he should probably check up on her.

"You alright?" he grinned as he approached, placing a hand on her shoulder to steady her as she tipped sideways.

Eleanora smiled dopily in response and nodded enthusiastically. This appeared to be a mistake, though, as the motion caused her to stumble to one side and grip his sleeve tightly to prevent herself falling over.

"You sure?" Tony chuckled, grabbing her by the elbows to hold her upright. "I think... I think you need to sit down. C'mon, you dipsomaniac."

Eleanora held onto his jacket and he placed an arm around her back as he guided her back to the bar. "Someone's a lil' handsy," she sniggered.

"You're the one that keeps grabbing onto me so that you don't fall over," he rolled his eyes. "I'm currently the only thing keeping you upright at the moment."

"Are you- are you saying I'm not in control?" she hiccuped.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"I am perfectly in control, thank you very much."

"Oh yeah?" Tony raised his eyebrows and let go of her. Straight away, she tilted sideways again, and he quickly grabbed her arms again before she could go ass up.

"See?" she huffed, holding her arms out as if this proved her point. 

"You're a mess."

"My-my hands are- are really sticky," she announced, looking down at them and pressing them together.

_"Why?"_

"Uh, I dunno," she began sarcastically. "Maybe because you knocked into my drink before and spilled it all over me. They're really sticky, I'm gonna- I'm gonna go wash them."

Before Tony could respond, she had run off in the direction of the bathroom at a remarkable speed, especially considering she had been struggling to stand only moments earlier. He remembered the offhand comment she had made earlier on in the night about being "fuckin' Speedy Gonzalez" when she was drunk, and he was beginning to see what she meant. He was vaguely concerned about letting her out of his sight in the state she was in, but he was far from sober himself and didn't have the capacity to do much except wait for her to get back.

A few minutes later, Eleanora returned and, rather than taking a seat at one of the barstools, she lowered herself to the ground and sat on the floor with her back against the bar.

"You good?" he called down to her.

The young woman beamed drunkenly up at him. "Yup... 'm great. Think I'm... think I'm sweating vodka though."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. You wanna get off the floor?"

Eleanora shook her head. "This is nice. I can't fall off the ground."

"If anyone could, it's you," he retorted. "Besides, you're just going to get sticky again, that floor is super gross."

"Fine, but... you're gonna- you're gonna have to help me, 'cause standing up myself is a lot of effort and if I try, I'll end up flashing everyone 'n 'm not really in the mood for that."

Tony rolled his eyes, but managed to (rather ungracefully) get Eleanora back on her feet and onto a stool.

"You two doing okay?" Rhodey asked, appearing between the two of them.

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine. What happened to that girl?" Tony frowned. "You guys looked like you were really hitting it off."

"Oh yeah, it's going great. I was actually coming over here to let you guys know we're, uh, leaving."

Tony grinned childishly and Rhodey rolled his eyes, before glancing over at Eleanora in concern. "Is... Nora alright?" he grimaced.

The young woman snapped out of her vacant expression at the mention of her name and smiled widely at him. "Oh, yeah, I'm great. I just have no control of my body right now. That's really nice of you, Rhodey, you're really nice. Now go hanky panky your heart out."

Rhodey laughed awkwardly, rubbing his hand over his face. "Now I'm a tad concerned, and I'll never be able to un-hear 'go hanky panky your heart out', so thanks for that. Keep an eye on her, will you?" 

Tony scoffed. "What do you think I've been doing the last two hours?"

"I be capable of looking after meself, ya scurvy dogs," Eleanora objected. 

The two boys blinked in bewilderment. 

"So you're a pirate now?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow.

"Aye," she nodded solemnly. "Now go shag that lass, me hearty." 

" _Anyway_ ," Tony said slowly, turning back to Rhodey with a slight shake of his head. "Have _fun_. Love is cleaner with a packaged wiener."

Rhodey pulled a face and opened his mouth to respond when Eleanora cut across him, "Don't be silly, wrap yer willy."

"Don't be a fool, cover your tool," Tony shot back with a grin.

"Sock that wang before ya bang."

"Wrap that pickle, then slip her a tickle."

"Garnish yer oak, then give 'er a poke." 

"Cover your stump before you hump."

"House yer noodle, then release yer strudel."

"If you think she's spunky-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Rhodey interrupted, smacking both of them as he did so. "You guys are shameless. I'm leaving. Don't die. Goodbye."

"We did that," Eleanora remarked, returning to her usual accent as Rhodey and the girl walked out of the club. "I think we really helped move things along." 

"You know what? I think we did too," Tony agreed. 

They sat in silence for a few moments, until he glanced over at Eleanora and noticed her staring at her glass, looking deep in thought. 

"What're you thinking about?" he asked, poking her arm. 

She turned her head towards him and bit the inside of her cheek. "Have you ever... have you ever made love to someone?" 

Tony narrowed his eyes in confusion at the question. "Are you asking me if I'm a virgin?" 

"No, have you ever _made_ _love?"_ she repeated. 

Realising what she was actually asking, he thought about it for a moment, considering all the girls he had slept with, all the relationships he had been in. He shook his head. "Nah. You?" 

Eleanora looked back down at her glass, twirling it around in her hands. "There's been times I thought that's what it was, but looking back... I'm not so sure anymore." 

Tony didn't know what to make of that, mostly because he wasn't even sure what she meant. He didn't think much of not having 'made love' to someone. Then again, he'd never really been in any relationships that lasted longer than a month or two, whereas he was pretty sure Eleanora and Tucker had been together for nearly a year, so he didn't really know what was appropriate for long-term relationships. 

The young woman didn't seem troubled by what she had said, however, just contemplative. He didn't know a lot about Tucker, except for the fact that he had a stupid name. He knew he spent the night at her apartment quite often (which he had heard her roommate complaining to Eleanora about), and he knew he wasn't happy about this whole spring break road trip thing. He could understand why, but he also didn't really care because they'd had a lot of fun, not to mention how stress-free she looked for once. 

Tony had seen Eleanora extremely happy after spending time with Tucker or talking to him over the phone. However, he had also seen her coming away from those situations looking exasperated, frustrated or just generally unhappy. He considered that maybe that was why his relationships didn't last long, because he just gave up as soon as things got 'too hard'. He didn't particularly understand the concept of working through issues to maintain relationships, but he never really got attached enough to people to deal with fighting for the sake of staying together anyway. 

He was well aware it was normal for couples to fight, but he had no idea to what degree. His parents would often look over the moon in each other's presence, but his dad was a manipulative shitbag and also made his mom really upset at times. Maria definitely deserved better than Howard, but always insisted she loved him whenever Tony told her exactly that. He didn't doubt that either, but he still firmly believed she would be happier without him. 

Tony really didn't have a very good gauge for what a healthy long-term relationship should look like, so he wasn't sure if whatever Eleanora was experiencing was normal or if she'd be better without Tucker. Eleanora was assertive and showed an unusual amount of self-respect compared to her peers, but then again, so did Maria until she was around Howard. 

And great, now he had just planted the seed in his own mind that Tucker could be like his father, in which case Eleanora _definitely_ deserved better, but he didn't want to make assumptions like that. Besides, she did appear to be really happy with Tucker and he needed to get out of his head because fighting _was_ normal and he'd never been an optimist but he'd alarmed himself by how quick he'd come to the worst conclusion. He supposed growing up observing his parents had cause him to develop a rather jaded view of relationships, but Eleanora was happy and he wasn't going to ruin it for her. In any case, it didn't seem as though she was looking for advice anyway (thankfully), merely stating a fact. 

He wasn't sure how else to respond, so he just did the first thing he thought of. 

"You wanna do shots?" 

Eleanora grinned at him. "You, sir, are full of great ideas." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know 'long-term' is a real stretch for under a year but that's from Tony's perspective and he's, well... Tony. 
> 
> Please leave kudos/comments if you enjoy! :)


	11. Prepare to be Smoothened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These two should not be left unsupervised.

Eleanora woke up incredibly confused, the main source of which was the grass underneath her. She cracked open one eye, wincing at the bright morning sunlight. She took a moment to allow herself to properly wake up before rolling onto her back and propping herself up on her elbows, glancing around through squinted eyes.

She gathered that she was lying on the front lawn of a house and red solo cups, streamers and other rubbish were scattered on the grass. That was a good sign - there had been a party, meaning she hadn't gone to some random's house alone. Across the other side of the lawn, a blonde guy was wandering around, clearly looking for something. At her movement, he glanced over at her.

"Oh good, you're alive," he commented dryly. "You alright?"

"Uh, I think," she replied, cringing at her croaky voice. "You okay?"

"Just looking for my keys," he grimaced. 

"Ah. Weird question, but we didn't..." she trailed off questioningly and he snorted and shook his head. 

"Nah, you just talked to me a lot about bees and how the Jaws movie negatively impacted sharks. Then you heard a song you really liked - Girls Just Want To Have Fun, I'm pretty sure - and ran off to dance to it and I didn't see much of you for the rest of the night. I just found you out here this morning. Wild night?"

"Honestly, I can't remember, like... any of it, so I assume so. I'm still in LA, right?"

The guy frowned. "This is Florida."

Eleanora's jaw dropped. " _What?"_

"Nah, I'm totally fucking with you. Yeah, we're in LA - Monterey Park."

"You're a dick," she grumbled, getting to her feet unsteadily. "You want a hand looking?"

"Nah, that's alright, they've gotta be here somewhere. I'll have a look inside."

"Wait, so you remember last night? And we talked?"

The man nodded. "I only had a couple drinks."

"Did you happen to see a guy with me at any point? Brown hair, brown eyes... okay, that's not a lot to go off-"

"Yeah, I think I know who you mean," he cut her off. "You sang the entirety of Bohemian Rhapsody together with both of you trying to do all the parts and then you waxed one of his legs. while a bunch of people watched."

Eleanora blinked. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Any chance you know where he is?"

"Yeah, I think I saw him passed out on the dining table. I'm pretty sure you'd rather not hear this, but at one point you ate cheese out of some chick's belly button for truth or dare."

"Yep, would rather have not heard that. Where... where are my shoes?" she asked, frowning down at her feet and looking around.

"Oh yeah, after you shaved his leg, you guys swapped shoes. So the real question you should be asking is where are _his_ shoes?"

"Fuck, that's worse," she groaned.

"Lenny?" a voice called from the house as Tony himself came stumbling outside, trying to take her heels off his feet as he walked.

"Yeah, that guy," Random Man nodded.

"Please don't hate me," Eleanora winced as Tony came up to them, the heels now in hand.

He glanced over at the other man and looked back at Eleanora with a raised eyebrow. "Really, Lenny?"

"I didn't!" she objected with a scowl, knowing what he was implying.

"Oh... then why should I hate you?"

"I lost your shoes. Apparently we swapped last night but I have no idea where yours are now."

"Okay, well that explains _this_ ," he replied with a laugh, handing back her heels. "And don't sweat it, they were only a couple hundred dollars."

"Wow, that's not even sarcastic, what a rich boy thing to say."

"Hey, you're rich, too."

"Whatever."

"How did we end up here?" Tony asked, rubbing at his eyes. "And where are we?"

"Where'd you say again?" Eleanora asked, looking back at the blonde.

"Monterey Park," he supplied. "If you guys are okay, I'm going to head inside to look for my keys."

"Uh, I saw some keys hanging off the antlers of a deer head on the wall in the living room on my way out," Tony suggested.

"Thanks, man. That's probably them. I'll probably never see you guys again, so have a good life." 

The man walked back inside and Eleanora glanced back over at Tony. "To answer the first part of your question, I have no idea how we ended up here. I have no recollection of last night at all."

To be honest, that fact really scared her. She loved to drink and have a good time but legitimately not being able to remember the events of the previous night sparked panic in her, and the more the thought about it, the more stressed she became.

"You alright?" Tony asked after a moment.

"Y-yeah, just... never mind."

"Don't give me that shit, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it just... kinda freaks me out a little, I guess, not knowing what happened last night."

"Why does is matter so much?" he asked. "I'd rather not remember, because I know I definitely did some dumb shit. Probably just bad memories. Ignorance is bliss."

Eleanora nodded, swallowing down the lump in her throat.

"I mean, the important thing is that you're okay... You're not hurt are you?"

The young woman checked herself over, properly considering the question. She relaxed when she only spotted a few bruises on her legs and only felt pain in her back. "Nah. Just a sore back from sleeping on the ground." 

Tony's eyes widened when she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Hold the fuck up, there's blood running down your face." 

"Huh?" Eleanora touched her face in confusion, only to feel dried blood stuck to her skin. "How did that get there?" she asked mildly.

"Christ, Lenny," he sighed, running a hand over his face. He stepped closer to inspect the wound, pushing her hair back slightly. "Yeah, there's a cut just below your hair line. I don't think it's infected or anything." 

"Give it time."

Tony just rolled his eyes. "We should probably get back to the hotel before Rhodey does or he'll freak out and think we're both dead or something. Let's go back inside and use the landline to call a taxi."

The two sat on the curb outside the house while they waited for the taxi.

"Shit, I'm out of cash," Tony swore abruptly. "Think the driver will take an IOU?"

"Don't worry, I got it," Eleanora shook her head, reached into her bra and pulled out a fifty dollar bill, feeling immensely relieved it was still there.

"You didn't wanna put it in a pocket somewhere?" he asked in amusement.

"I'm sorry, do you _see_ a pocket on me anywhere?!" she demanded, holding her arms out.

"Yikes, sorry, sensitive subject."

Tony stretched his legs out, crossing one over the other, and froze suddenly. He then leant forward and ran his hands over his legs in confusion, causing Eleanora to bark out a laugh, remembering what the blonde guy had said about her waxing one of them. Although the absence of hair on one of them was quite visible, he seemed to need to touch them to make sure.

"Oh yeah, apparently I did that," she sniggered.

He stared at her. " _Why?"_

"I don't know, but considering how drunk I was, I think I did a decent job."

"I _thought_ one of them felt colder than the other... This looks really weird, I have one hairless leg. What the hell am I meant to do?"

"I can do the other one for you," she offered with a grin.

Tony huffed. "Yeah, I'll pass."

"Oh, come on, feel how smooth this one is. Trust me, freshly-smooth legs is a great feeling and you're not getting the full experience. You'll feel like a dolphin."

"Please stop caressing my shin, thank you."

"Okay, well, unless you let me do the other one, you'll have to spend however long it takes for that hair to grow back with uneven legs."

Tony sighed and shot Eleanora and exasperated look. "I can't believe this. Fine, Lenny, will you please wax my other leg?"

"It'd be my honour," she smiled.

**• • •**

"Alright, sit on the edge of the bath and prepare to be smoothened." 

"No no no," Tony shook his head, wagging his finger at her. "You're not coming near my legs until we've dealt with the cut on your head. Do you have any idea how it got there?" 

"Not a clue," Eleanora shrugged, looking at herself in the mirror through narrowed eyes. "Ooh, this is satisfying," she added, scratching the dried blood off with her fingernail. 

"Stop that and let me clean it like a normal person," he rolled his eyes, pushing her to sit down on the edge of the bath. "If it gets infected and gross, you're gonna have to get someone else to deal with it because I'm not touching that." 

"I'm perfectly capable of doing this myself, you know," she crossed her arms as he ran a cloth under running water. 

"You also said you were in control last night. You're not really good at the whole looking-after-yourself thing." 

"Says you," she huffed. 

"Well, that's why we gotta stick together, right?" he proposed, starting to wipe away the blood. 

"What, we can't look after ourselves but we'll look out for each other? This is like the blind leading the blind." 

"I think we're doing okay." 

"I'm bleeding and you've got one waxed leg."

Tony just shrugged. "I said _okay_ , I didn't say _great_." 

It didn't take long to clean all the blood off, and Tony looked at her for a moment once he was done. "Do I put a bandaid on it?" 

"It's on my hairline, no thanks," she shook her head, standing up. "It'll be fine. Now, sit down, it's time to wax that leg." 

"Is it gonna hurt?" he asked hesitantly. 

Eleanora shook her head and waved a dismissive hand. "Of course not. You'll barely feel a thing." 

**• • •**

"What the _fuck?!_ This hurts so much, why do people do this?!"

"Oh, quit being a baby. No pain, no gain," Eleanora replied bemusedly, patting down another strip.

"I'm not _gaining_ anything, I'm actually losing my beautiful leg h-AGH! Fuck!"

Tony whined in pain, smacking the back of his head against the bathroom wall and gripping the edges of the toilet he was sitting on.

"Nope, I'm not fucking doing this, I give up."

"Tony, I promise you, it looks so much worse right now with only a third of the leg done than it did before. But it'll look great once I'm done."

"A third?! I thought we were nearly finished!"

"Would it help if I knocked you unconscious?"

"Could you actually? I would appreciate that."

"Oh my gosh, no, I was joking. If you stopped complaining and wriggling around, I'd be able to get this done faster."

"Forgive me for not sitting still when you're viciously ripping-" he cut himself off with another cry of pain as she tore another strip off his skin.

"What the _hell_ are you two doing?"

Tony and Eleanora turned towards Rhodey, who was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, staring at them in bewilderment.

"I'm waxing his leg," Eleanora answered brightly.

"Yeah, I gathered _that_. I meant _why?"_

"Well, let's just say last night was fuckin' wild, and I don't remember any of it but apparently we ended up going to some house party and a guy who found me on the grass outside this morning told me I waxed his leg last night in front of a bunch of people. But because I only did one, he had one smooth leg and one hairy leg so now I'm evening it up by doing the other one."

"Anyone who does this by choice is a fucking masochist," Tony groaned.

"No, they're just enduring physical pain to avoid the ridicule of others for not meeting society's standards of beauty that declare natural body hair is gross," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Okay," Rhodey said slowly. "I'll just leave you to it, then."

"You're such a fucking liar, Miss you'll-barely-feel-a-thing. I'm never doing this ever again."

"Not until the next time I drunkenly wax one of your legs," she joked.

"Lenny," he said firmly, "I'm not kidding, if this happens again, I _will_ shave your head in your sleep." 


	12. Hips Don't Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tucker finds out about the sleeping arrangements. He's not impressed.

"You're taking it slow tonight. And by slow I mean reasonable." 

"I like having a good time, but what's the point if I drink so much I can't even remember it?" Eleanora shrugged, resting an elbow on the bar. "Especially the leg-waxing thing. I'm quite upset that I don't have any recollection of it." 

Rhodey let out a laugh and nodded. "Fair enough. _He's_ certainly not taking it slow." 

Eleanora followed his gaze to look at Tony, who was trying -and failing _epically_ \- to do the worm, surrounded by a group of giggling girls. He had beer all down his front, and his shoelaces were undone, which was a catastrophe waiting to happen. 

"I feel like we should intervene," she spoke up. 

"Yeah, probably," Rhodey agreed, however neither of them moved. 

At that moment, Tony began to stagger to his feet, only to step on his own shoelace and crash back down again face first. 

"Oh, fuck," Eleanora muttered, getting to her feet as he rolled onto his back and reached up for his nose in pain. "Hey, dipshit," she grinned down at him. "Is it broken?" 

Tony lowered his hand and beamed drunkenly back at her. "Lenny! Nah, don't... don't think so." 

"Shame," she sniggered, before grabbing his arm to help him to his feet. "Up you get. I think you're done for the night." 

"Wha- no! 'M havin' a great time! I'm f-fine." 

" _No_ , you're not," Rhodey piped up, wrapping his arm around Tony's shoulders and guiding him towards the door. 

"You're gangin' up o' me!" Tony whined, before pointing an accusing finger in what Eleanora assumed was _meant_ to be her direction. "When did you get all responsible? We got _fucked up_ the other night." 

"Yes, well... thought I should give my liver somewhat of a rest." 

"Figures... Traitor." 

Together, Rhodey and Eleanora struggled to get Tony back to their hotel room. He headed towards his bed, but Eleanora quickly redirected him towards the bathroom. 

"You need to shower, you smell like a sweaty ballsack," she told him, pushing him through the doorway. 

He turned and gave her a sly smile. " _You'd_ know." 

"So trust me when I say I am not exaggerating," she shot back witheringly. 

"You gonna- you gonna give me my pyjamas? Or you that dep-desperate to see me in jus' a towel?" 

Eleanora rolled her eyes and went to fetch his pyjamas, throwing them to him with unnecessary force in response to the remark. Inhibited by alcohol, the clothing just hit him in the face and he stumbled back with a drunken giggle, almost falling over before he caught himself against the towel rack. 

"I think showering this drunk's a hazard," he slurred. "S'probably safer if- if you help me with the process." 

"Probably," she nodded and he blinked in surprise. "But good luck." 

She shut the door before he could respond, turning back to face Rhodey, who was grinning in amusement. "You know, you had me for a moment, there." 

Eleanora scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm a little offended by that, to be honest. He's very obviously drunk out of his mind." 

"So that's the only problem, then?" Rhodey asked teasingly, causing her to jab him roughly in the stomach with a scathing look. 

"Oh, yes, I _really_ wanted to snog him senseless but - _extraordinarily_ \- I managed to hold myself back." 

The man just laughed, falling back onto one of the sofas and flicking on the television. After getting into her pyjamas and making herself cup of tea, Eleanora curled up on the other sofa with a book to read. She was beginning to grow concerned with how long Tony spent in the shower, when she heard the door open and he shuffled out, struggling to pull his t-shirt over his head. 

"'M stuck," he mumbled, voice muffled by the fabric covering his head. 

Rhodey just looked at him before shaking his head and turning back to the television. 

"You'll figure it out," Eleanora replied mildly, not taking her eyes off her book. 

After a few moments Tony managed to find the hole to put his head through and scowled at her. "You're mean." 

She looked up with a flat expression as he came around and flopped tiredly onto the sofa beside her, hooking his legs over the arm and letting his head and wet hair fall onto the open book on her lap, much to her irritation. 

"Can you not?" she huffed, struggling to pry the (now damp) pages out from under his head, grimacing when the water from his hair started to seep through her tracksuit bottoms instead. 

"Hand," he remarked intelligibly, frowning slightly as he gestured to the tiny abrasions on the knuckles of her left hand. She figured there was a question there somewhere and shrugged. 

"Must've grazed it against something." 

He simply mumbled something incoherent as he turned on his side, drawing his knees up and curling into himself. Eleanora looked uncomfortably at Rhodey, who was watching the scene in entertainment. 

"I've got to say, I haven't seen him _this_ drunk. At least, not when I'm as far gone. This is uncharacteristically... cuddly." 

"It happens on occasion," he shrugged. 

She began contemplating how to move Tony when a slight snore escaped him. Knowing there was no hope of moving him now, she just sighed in defeat and used the side of his face to prop her book up. 

"Thank you." 

Eleanora glanced back at Rhodey in confusion. "For what?" 

"For actually taking the time and effort to get to know him. I know he can be a bit... you know. He hasn't had a great childhood and he puts up barriers to stop people from getting through. So thank you for seeing past all that and being another person he trusts." 

"I don't know about that," she frowned. "I mean, we pretty much became friends over a drunk conversation about our shitty families." 

"He can act like an ass when he's drunk, but he's also a lot more vulnerable. When it gets to a certain point - like now - he starts to gravitate to people he trusts most. At MIT, that was pretty much just me. I know he wasn't really making any real friends at Stanford so I was pretty worried about him. Thought he was gonna bail on the spite degree, which would've been a shame. I'm grateful he's got you." 

"He's not so bad" she shrugged. 

At that moment, Eleanora heard her phone ringing from her bag, which was across the other side of the room, and glanced helplessly down at Tony. 

"I'll get it," Rhodey offered, getting to his feet to fetch her phone for her. 

She thanked him when he handed the ringing phone to her and accepted the call. "Hello?" 

_"Hey, baby!"_ Tucker answered, making her smile. _"How's spring break been?"_

"Great! I'm really glad I came, it's been a lot of fun." 

_"It'd be better if I was there though, wouldn't it?"_ he asked teasingly. 

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, silly." 

_"I really miss you. You'll be back on Saturday, right?"_

"Yep."

 _"I guess I can handle two more days,"_ he sighed dramatically. _"In the meantime, you in the mood for some... dirty talk?"_

"Um... not really, if I'm being honest," she responded, trying not to snigger considering her present company. "Oh, thanks," she added absent-mindedly when Rhodey took her empty mug to the kitchen. 

_"Who are you talking to?"_ Tucker immediately asked, his tense tone making her cringe. 

"Uh, Rhodey - Tony's friend?" 

The man in question paused and raised an eyebrow at her. 

_"And why is he in your room? It's late."_

"Well, it's not actually _my_ room, we're all in the same suite." 

_"Are you fucking kidding me?! I let you go off with two guys and you don't even have the decency to stay in a different room?"_

"I _was_ , but then some guy broke in while I was in the bath so I didn't exactly feel comfortable on my own anymore." 

Eleanora would really have preferred to have some privacy at that moment, but since she was trapped by Tony, she didn't really have a choice. She could tell Rhodey was trying not to listen from his position in the kitchen, but given the limited space, it was hard not to. 

_"And it's all about you, is it? You didn't think how that might make_ me _feel?"_

Eleanora pulled a face in indignation. "I didn't feel _safe,_ babe, I wasn't exactly concerned about that at the time. I really don't see what the big deal is, anyway." 

_"It... It kinda sounds like you're saying my feelings aren't a big deal, to be honest, El."_

"That's not what I meant," she responded guiltily, biting her lip. "It just seems odd to me that you're getting frustrating at me for removing myself from an unsafe situation." 

_"Don't you dare imply that I don't care about your safety. I love you more than anything and it hurts that you'd think that."_

_Then don't say things that make me think that_ , she wanted to say. "Sorry," came out instead. 

_"I forgive you, baby. It's just... you understand why I'm not comfortable with you sharing a room with two guys, right?"_

"A suite," she corrected somewhat helplessly, pulling her hand away when she realised she was fiddling with Tony's hair. "And I know, but they're my friends. Besides, I told you they both have girlfriends, anyway." 

At this, Rhodey turned to face her with a confused expression, and she just waved her hand dismissively. 

"I love you and I'd never betray you like that," she continued. "Do you really not trust me?" 

_"It's not you I don't trust. What if they're just using you? What if they just want to get in your pants?"_

Eleanora's temper flared, her voice rising. "Yeah, well, sex requires two people so you either _don't_ trust me or you're accusing my friends of being fucking rapists, so which is it?" 

Rhodey choked on air and Tony stirred, eyes blearily blinking awake again.

 _"I don't know them,_ " Tucker defended. 

"But _I_ do. And that should be enough for you." 

He began to argue but in a moment of frustration, she hung up the phone, sitting it on the small table beside the couch before letting out an irritated groan. 

"You 'kay?" Tony asked sleepily, looking up at her. 

"Perfect... just perfect," she sighed. 

"So, uh, who's my girlfriend?" Rhodey asked dryly, coming back to sit on the sofa again. "I'd love to meet her." 

"Oh, shut up." 

"You 'ave a gir'frien Rho'ey?" 

Eleanora smiled slightly as Tony lifted his head slightly to frown at Rhodey.

"According to Nora I do." 

Tony seemed to ponder this for a moment before deciding he couldn't be bothered figuring out what he meant and lying back down again. 

"I'm sorry," Rhodey apologised quietly. 

"What on earth for?"

"Well, Tony kept talking about you and saying I'd like you and so I suggested that he invite you along on this trip." 

Eleanora gasped playfully, looking accusingly at a half-conscious Tony. "You mean you didn't even want me here?" 

"Oh, no, trust me, he was thrilled when I suggested it. It's just... I didn't mean to cause issues in your relationship by doing so." 

She gave a sad smile in response. "You haven't caused any issues, Rhodey. They've just been... brought to light. Not your fault at all. It's actually a good..." she trailed off when Tony grabbed her arm and lay it across his chest, trapping it under his own arms. 

Eleanora rolled her eyes, meanwhile Rhodey watched in amusement. "Maybe your boyfriend _does_ have reason to be jealous." 

While the comment was innocent enough, she was suddenly very uncomfortable and patted Tony on the shoulder. "Alright, Tony, I don't think Maddie would be overly happy about this, so why don't you just-" she went to pull her arm out of his grip, but he only held on tighter. She sighed defeatedly. "Never mind then." 

"I got this," Rhodey smirked. He stood up and jabbed Tony harshly on the hips, causing him to shriek and roll off the couch, landing on the carpet with a thud. Eleanora burst into laughter, snorting loudly as he groaned in pain. 

"The fuck?" 

"I think you need to go to bed," she told him, poking his side with her foot. 

He swatted it irritably, but staggered to his feet anyway. 

"Ticklish hips," Rhodey explained, crossing his arms in satisfaction. 

"Don't 'xpose me," Tony grumbled. 

Eleanora grinned. "Thanks."


	13. Hypocrates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring break is over, Eleanora's parents aren't happy and Tony is uneasy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update because I'm feeling generous (also we're close to the point where the shit well and truly hits the fan and I'm excited). 
> 
> (Also before people come at me, the chapter title is not a typo, it's a reference to the Marina song, which is a play on hypocrites and Hippocrates)

The drive back into Stanford was admittedly disappointing in Eleanora's eyes. She couldn't remember a time when she had felt as carefree as she did throughout the entirety of the road trip with Tony and Rhodey. Not to mention, she still hadn't spoken to Tucker since their argument over the phone and she was not looking forward to his reaction. 

However, she did feel incredibly guilty over the whole thing. Of course her boyfriend wouldn't be happy about her sharing a suit with two other guys. She only did it because she was quite shaken about the break-in but maybe she was just being dramatic, it's not like anything actually happened (thanks to Tony, anyway). 

"Where are we dropping you off?" Rhodey asked from the front of the car. 

Eleanora paused. When Tucker agreed to let her go, he had done so under the condition that she got picked up and dropped off at his place, however, she wasn't sure if that still stood after their argument. She supposed they needed to talk anyway, though, and it was probably better to get it out of the way. 

"Tucker's house," she answered. 

"So you guys are cool now?" 

Eleanora smiled slightly and gave a casual shrug. "I'll find out, I suppose." 

Tony craned his neck around to look between the two. "Wait, what? What did I miss?" 

"We just had a bit of a fight, is all," she shrugged it off. 

"When was this?" 

"Thursday night. You were shit-faced." 

"Ah," he nodded. "So... what happened?" 

A part of Eleanora didn't want to tell him. Frankly she was embarrassed, ashamed that she couldn't be the girlfriend Tucker wanted her to be. She'd prefer for them to not even know they were fighting in the first place, it was humiliating. But they knew now, and she knew that Tony and Rhodey would be the last people to judge her for such a thing. 

"He just wasn't really happy about the room arrangements," she explained, glancing out the window. 

"You mean us all being in the same room?" Tony asked. 

Eleanora nodded. 

"Did you tell him someone _broke into your room?"_

"Yeah, but he's just..." she trailed off and made a vague gesture with her hand. "I mean, I can see why he'd be upset, it's fair enough." 

"Uh, no it's not," Tony frowned. "I mean, I get why he'd be jealous of my beautiful face, but we were just making sure you were safe. Would he rather-?" 

"Don't finish that, man," Rhodey interrupted. 

While a part of her was relieved and grateful that Tony was backing her up, it also worsened her guilt. It didn't feel right to talk about Tucker like that behind his back, what kind of girlfriend did that? He hadn't even been doing anything wrong, he had just been expressing his feelings about Eleanora's own actions. And she encouraged that, she encouraged honesty and communication about these things. 

"Would he feel better if he actually met us?" Tony suggested. "I'll even turn off my natural charm so he feels less threatened." 

Eleanora's lips quirked upwards and she rolled her eyes slightly, despite the fact that Tucker would indeed be more likely to actually like Tony if he was less... Tony-like. "Uh, probably. I guess the fact that he has no idea who you two are has made him a bit antsy, but maybe if he met you he'd... calm down." 

However, when they turned onto Tucker's street, she caught sight of a sleek red Alfa Romeo in the driveway and her heart sank. "Oh, fuck." 

"What's wrong?" Rhodey asked. 

"That's my dad's car. What the hell are they doing here? Tucker must have told them I was coming back today. That's just fantastic." 

"Do you still want us to go in with you?" 

"Definitely not... no offence. It's just my parents are gonna be really mad at me and they won't be scared to lash out at you too. It's probably safer if you don't actually stop the car, just slow down enough for me to jump out and then drive far away," she joked. 

"Let's not do that," Rhodey said at the same time Tony replied with "If you insist." 

Eleanora let out a breath as the car came to a stop outside Tucker's house and made her way around to the boot to grab her suitcase. She saw Rhodey go to open the car door, most likely to hug her goodbye because that's just the kind of person he was, and panicked slightly, knowing it was quite likely Tucker and her parents were watching her from the window and the last thing she needed was for them to see her hug a guy they had never met before. 

"Thanks for inviting me, I had a really great time," she spoke up quickly, stepping away from the car. Rhodey and Tony exchanged a look. "I'm sure I'll see you again soon, Rhodey, and Tony, I'll see you on Monday." 

"You'll see each other at my birthday party next month," Tony piped up. "Assuming you can come. No pressure, but if you bail on me I won't speak to you ever again." 

"Is that all it takes?" she asked teasingly. 

"I set myself up for that one," he sighed as Rhodey just laughed. 

"I'll be there," she promised with a slight roll of her eyes. "Bye guys." 

As she walked back towards the house, the dread in her stomach swirled uncomfortably. She swallowed hard before knocking on the door, and it opened mere seconds later. Tucker beamed at her, immediately pulling her in for a firm kiss and wrapping his arms around her. 

"I missed you, baby," he mumbled into her ear. 

"I missed you too," she replied tightly, pulling away and stepping over the threshold, casting a fleeting glance back outside as Tony's car pulled away from the curb and drove away before Tucker closed the door and guided her into the house. 

Eleanora found herself slightly confused by his behaviour, having expected at least some hesitance or tension from him. 

"Your mom and dad wanted to come by to see you when you got back," he explained as he led her into the living room, where her parents stood up from their positions on the couch. 

"H-hey," she breathed nervously, suddenly at a loss as to where her courage had gone. She wondered how her both of them could make her feel so shitty with just a stare, though they had certainly had practice. 

"I'll give you guys some privacy," Tucker offered, as if this was very noble of him. Eleanora shot him a pleading expression knowing that he most likely knew what was about to take place, however, he just kissed her forehead and walked out of the room. 

She slowly turned back to face her parents, cringing at the tension. 

"You're finally back," Reginald broke the silence calmly. "I take it you had fun on your... _trip_." 

Eleanora nodded uneasily. "Yep... I had a great time." 

"You're aware of how much we're paying for you to be attending that school, aren't you?" Beatrice demanded. 

She clenched her jaw. "I can't imagine how I'd forget considering how often you remind me-" 

"So explain to me," she cut her off harshly, "what makes you think you can go gallivanting off to get drunk and act like a whore on spring break when you're two months away from your finals and we know you could use all the help you could get?" 

"I'm on straight As!" 

"Not to mention," she continued, ignoring Eleanora's angry objection, "that you've become friends with _Howard_ _Stark's_ son of all people." 

"You don't know _either_ of them!" 

"I've heard enough about Howard to know what kind of boy that Tony is." 

"And kids are replicas of their parents are they?" she snapped. "I'm sure as hell grateful _I'm_ not." 

Beatrice's eyes flashed with hurt and she let out a sigh, stepping closer to Eleanora and gently brushing some of her hair out of her face. The young woman found herself leaning into the touch slightly, despite everything. 

"We only want the best for you Eleanora, we want you to be successful," her mother explained softly. 

"I will be," she replied, eyes on the ground. "But it'll be doing what I want to do." 

"You don't even know what you want to do!" Reginald scoffed, crossing his arms. 

Eleanora swallowed and looked up at them angrily. "But I know what I _don't_ want to do and yet you're trying to push me into it anyway!" 

"You're a child!" Beatrice hissed. "You are ignorant and naive and you don't understand what the world is like! We are trying to guide you and you keep resisting because you're stupid and think you know better!" 

She recoiled, the rejection and sting of her mother's words piercing her chest as her eyes burned with tears. 

The woman simply sighed heavily. "Don't act like we're the bad guys here. We just want what's best for you." 

"Stop saying that, you don't!" Eleanora managed to get out around the growing lump in her throat, shaking her head. "You don't _know_ what's best for me. You think you do but you don't! _You_ set these impossible standards and then get mad at _me_ for not fulfilling them! You're crying over a grave of your own making that has no corpse in it and I don't need to fill it for you, nor do I need to feel guilty for not doing so!" 

"What on _earth_ are you talking about-?" Reginald began, only for her to interrupt, unable to hear anymore of their bullshit. 

"Please leave. I don't owe you an explanation as to why I'm following my own path and I'd like for you to go." 

Her parents stared at her for a moment as if waiting for her to say something else, but after a few moments, started walking out the door. 

"She'll come around," she heard Reginald assure Beatrice just before the front door shut behind them. She stood there for a few moments, shaking slightly and trying to hold herself together, jumping a little when a hand touched her shoulder. 

"Babe?" Tucker spoke up softly, eyes staring at her in concern. 

Eleanora's resolve weakened suddenly, eyes tearing up again and swallowing the lump down again as she threw her arms around his chest and buried her face in his neck. He immediately ran a soothing hand up and down her back and placed a kiss on the top of her head. 

"That wasn't right," he frowned. "Although, to be fair, they did tell you they didn't want you to go, so you can't really be mad at them for that." 

Eleanora pulled away, feeling as though a rug had been pulled out from under her feet. "You don't get it, Tucker. Just because they told me they didn't want me to go doesn't mean that it's wrong that I went. I don't live to do what they tell me to do and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop siding with them." 

"And _I'd_ appreciate it if you didn't go off on a holiday and share a room with two guys but we don't all get what we want." 

There were so many things wrong with that response that it threw Eleanora off slightly. 

"I already explained to you why that was the case," she frowned. 

"So you're really not willing to accept that you were even _slightly_ in the wrong?" Tucker asked with a scowl. 

"No, you're absolutely right," she shot back sarcastically before she could stop herself. "I should've stayed where I was and gotten murdered or assaulted, would that have made you feel better?" 

His eyes flashed angrily. "That's not what I said and _I'd_ appreciate it if you would stop trying to manipulate me into being okay with what happened." 

_Was_ that what she was doing? She was just trying to defend herself but maybe subconsciously she _was_ manipulating him. 

"I'm not trying to manipulate you," she responded calmly. "I'm just surprised that you're more worried about me being in the same room as two friends than me being alone in a room that was broken into by a stranger." 

The hand that Tucker had around one of her biceps grew tighter. "Stop acting like I don't care about your safety! You keep disregarding my feelings about this and it feels really shitty, El!" 

Eleanora let out a gasp of pain as his hand squeezed firmly, pain throbbing under his grip. At the noise, he immediately let go, glancing between her arm and his hand in horror. 

"Shit, I'm so sorry," he croaked, face pleading. 

"It's okay," she dismissed. " _I'm_ sorry. I'm sorry for disregarding your feelings and I'm sorry for making you feel like you couldn't trust me." 

"Thank you, El, I really appreciate that," he smiled gratefully. "What do you say to coming upstairs and having some fun?" 

Eleanora had to hold back a groan. "I'm pretty tired, Tucker, I just-" 

"C'mon, please? I haven't seen you for a whole week, I need this!" 

"Yeah, I know, but after all of that-" she gestured to where her parents had been standing "-I'm feeling really shitty and I just want to go to bed." 

"You'll be in bed!" he grinned cheekily. 

"You're kidding me, right?" 

"You won't even have to do anything, you can just lie there!" 

"How romantic," she scoffed. 

" _Please?_ " 

"Fine." 

As Eleanora followed Tucker to his bedroom, she couldn't help but think about the fact that she already missed Tony and Rhodey. 

**• • •**

"This is kinda weird, man." 

"I just don't feel right leaving her in all of that," Tony replied as they circled back around the block towards Tucker's house. 

"Her parents?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow. 

"Something just doesn't feel right," he insisted, hand tapping at the steering wheel anxiously. Something about the expression on her face he had caught just before the door closed had made him feel uneasy. 

"They're her parents, Tones, they're not gonna hurt her." 

Tony turned to him with harsh expression, not even needing to say anything before Rhodey's face immediately fell in guilt. Tony swallowed and looked away, feeling slightly betrayed by the remark, though knowing that Rhodey hadn't meant anything by it. 

"I'm sorry... that was... that was a really stupid thing to say."

Tony just shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. 

"Do you know if they hurt her?" he asked.

"She hasn't said anything about it. I think she would have told me if they did. But that doesn't mean they _won't_." 

"Okay, but remember that they're literally at her boyfriend's house, I don't think Tucker or whatever his name is would let that kind of thing happen." 

"She was just saying that he was shitty at her because she stopped staying in a room alone after her room was broken into!" Tony argued. "He clearly isn't that concerned with her safety." 

"I think he's just a possessive idiot. There's a difference between being a dumbass and letting her parents hurt her," Rhodey reasoned. 

"I still don't like him." 

"Alright, well, what do you actually want to do? Because I really don't think it would help to go in there but sitting outside is just creepy and it's not like we could see what's happening anyway." 

"I don't know, I can't explain it, I just have this bad feeling, okay?" 

"Okay..." Rhodey nodded slowly as they pulled up on the side of the road across from Tucker's house again. "I'll do whatever you need me to do, man."

At that moment, the front door swung open and a couple that he assumed were her parents walked out with scowls on their faces. They were clearly not happy and, assuming that it was because Eleanora had stood up for herself, Tony smirked slightly in pride. 

"So, they're gone now..." Rhodey said as their car pulled out and drove away. "Do you feel okay now?" 

Tony opened his mouth to respond, pausing when he caught sight of Eleanora's silhouette behind the sheer curtain through the front window. She was still until another silhouette appeared - presumably Tucker - and they embraced. 

"Yeah," he nodded, trying to shake off whatever the weird feeling he had was. "Yeah, let's go." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya tucker sucks
> 
> Also if you're an irondad fan, check out my iron dad oneshots - https://archiveofourown.org/works/18717859/chapters/44394706   
> I haven't updated in nearly a year but I'll be getting back into it soon! 
> 
> Please leave kudos/comments if you enjoy!!


	14. Fake It 'Til You Make It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora gets her period, but Tony's a good friend and they get fucked up again.

Naturally, Eleanora was running late on Monday morning. 

So when she rushed into her physical chemistry lecture, she was expecting to have to use a spare notebook to lean on again as she assumed all the left-handed seats would be taken. However, when she caught sight of Tony, she realised he was sitting beside one of those seats, which he had piled with all his belongings. 

"Sorry, this seat is taken," she heard him saying to another student, who was looking at him crossly. 

"Look, dude, I need one of those seats-" 

"As does my friend, who will be coming any minute," he interrupted, before catching her eye and grinning and waving. "Lenny!" 

The girl huffed and slumped into another seat, causing Eleanora to grimace as Tony moved his possessions so she could sit down. 

"I feel bad," she muttered anxiously. 

"Well, if she was a bit nicer to people, maybe she'd have made some friends in this class who would be as great as I am and save her a seat, but she's not and she hasn't," he shrugged. "She didn't even ask, she just started moving my shit and I was like 'hold the fuck up'." 

"Thank you." 

"No problem. So how come I got here before you? Slept through your alarm?" 

"Something like that," she sighed, thinking back to the pool of blood she had woken up in. She had _not_ been prepared (although she never was, it was extremely irregular). And now she was in pain, didn't have any painkillers on her, in a shitty mood, and exhausted . She folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them tiredly, just wanting to take a nap. 

Tony looked at her for a moment. "I'll take notes, you sleep." 

She opened her mouth to respond when a particularly harsh cramp hit her and she groaned softly, clenching her jaw. 

"Are... you okay?" 

"Mhm," Eleanora responded, the sound muffled by her arms. She turned her head to look at him. "You wouldn't have any aspirin or anything on you, would you?" 

"No, sorry. You got a headache?" 

She just nodded, not bothering to correct him. 

"Why don't you just go back to your place and rest? It'll go away faster." 

"I'm here now," she mumbled, and then suddenly had something soft thrown over her head, blocking out the light in the theatre and muffling the sound. She could tell from the familiar scent of his cologne that it was Tony's jumper. 

"Is that better?" he asked, slightly amused. "I find headaches feel worse with light and sound." 

It didn't do anything to help the pain in her uterus, however, the gesture did make her smile to herself. 

"Yeah... thanks." 

**• • •**

The sudden increase in noise as the lecture finished stirred Eleanora from her nap, and she pulled Tony's jumper off her head as she sat up, wincing at the pain in her neck. 

"Good sleep?" Tony asked her with a smirk as she blinked groggily and stretched her arms with a yawn. 

"I think that made me feel worse, to be honest," she groaned softly, getting to her feet and slinging her bag over her shoulder, leading the way out of the lecture theatre. 

"You wanna grab lunch?" 

"Uh, sorry, I can't. I already promised Tucker I'd have lunch with him." 

"Boo," he responded tactlessly. " How's that going anyway?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"I know he wasn't too pleased after the whole spring break thing." 

"We're fine," Eleanora answered shortly, thinking of the bruise still on her arm. 

"Are you.... happy with him?" Tony raised an eyebrow. 

"Why would you ask that? Of course, I am." 

"I think the fact that you got so defensive over that is a sign," he pointed out bluntly. 

Eleanora scowled. "It's none of your business." 

He let out a low whistle. "You're only proving my point more. Besides, we're friends, it _is_ my business whether or not you're happy." 

"I love him." 

"I never doubted that, but you can love someone and still not be happy with the state of the relationship." 

She let out a sigh, and he looked at her expectantly. "It's just..." 

"What?" 

"No, nothing, that'd super weird if I told you." 

"Erectile dysfunction?" 

"What?!" she snorted. "No. Well- no." 

Tony let out a bark of laughter. "What do you mean, ' _well-_ no'?" 

Eleanora flushed, "Oh my _god_ , I should not be talking about this."

"Lenny, _everyone_ needs someone to talk to about these things."

She hesitated, feeling her face turning more and more red. "Fine... More often than not, I have to fake it." 

"Fake- _oh_ ," Tony responded, confused expression morphing into a grimace. 

"See, it's weird!" 

"It's not _weird_ \- well, it's a little weird, but it just reflects very poorly on him." He glanced at her with a teasing glint in his eye. "Is that the real reason you were in a bad mood when we first talked? Sexual frustration-?"

She hit him harshly on the arm and he pouted. "I love him," she insisted. 

"Just not his-" 

"TONY!" 

"Okay, okay, sorry," he laughed. "Go have your lunch with Oatmeal Cookie, I'll see you tomorrow." 

Eleanora rolled her eyes, elbowing him lightly in the side. "Yeah, yeah, see you tomorrow." 

"Oh wait, there's gonna be a party at Sigma Nu on Saturday night, you interested? I can get you on the list."

"Sure. Are you going?"

"You bet." 

**• • •**

While Eleanora had been looking forward to the party the rest of the week, when Saturday evening rolled around, she had tried on countless outfits in front of her mirror and currently sat on her bed in her underwear glaring at her clothes. She wanted to go for the leather miniskirt and a cute top, she was not at all a fan of what her muffin top was adding to the look. Reluctantly, she squeezed herself into her firmest pair of spanx and put the ensemble back on, nodding to herself satisfactorily. 

"You ready?" she asked Katie, poking her head into the girl's bedroom. 

"Yep," Katie answered as she finished touching up her mascara. "Let's go."

The party had well and truly started when they arrived at the Sigma Nu house and while Eleanora had already downed a beer beforehand while getting ready, she was not drunk enough to deal with the state that everyone else was in and quickly pulled out another drink she had brought, grinning at Katie, who already had a bottle to her lips. 

"Lenny!" a voice called loudly, and Eleanora rolled her eyes and turned around to face Tony who was, evidently, already quite intoxicated. 

"Where's your leech?" she asked mildly, seeing no sign of Maddie around. "I thought she was coming." 

"She was, but then she got invited to some sorority party and decided to go to that with her friends instead, so I came with a couple friends from my law class but I don't know where they are now." 

Eleanora nodded, lips quirking up slightly at the fact that he didn't correct her.

"You brought that, right?" he asked, gesturing to her drink. "'Cause these parties are fun, but I wouldn't trust any of the drinks any of the guys here try to give you." 

"This isn't my first rodeo," she answered with a nod. "I can handle myself." 

A couple hours later, Eleanora was sitting in the garden with another freshman girl, Lily, she had met that night, giggling hysterically. The amusement quickly ended, however, when Lily sat up straight all of a sudden, looking quite ill. Knowing that look, Eleanora immediately turned her around to face the garden bed and started tying her hair up just in time to miss her blowing chunks. She rubbed a sympathetic hand on her back and pulled a tissue out of her bra to give to her. 

"Is... Is she alright?" another older girl asked as she went to walk past. She'd clearly had a bit to drink but wasn't nearly as drunk as most other people. "I'll go get her some water," she continued without waiting for response, and turning back into the house. While most of the guests at frat parties were girls because the guys wanted to get in their pants, most of the girls knew to stick to their own drinks, were just there to have a good time and were willing to help each other out. 

"I have regrets," Lily groaned. 

"You'll be alright," Eleanora told her softly, tucking more of her hair behind her ear. 

The other girl came out a few minutes later with a cup full of water and knelt down beside Lily to make sure she drank in careful sips. 

"A friend of yours?" she asked Eleanora, who shook her head. 

"Only met her like an hour ago."

"My friends and I are probably ready to head back, we can walk her back to her dorm," she offered to Eleanora. "We can walk you back too if you like, I don't know if your friends are still here-" 

"There she is!" 

"Speak of the devil," she muttered as Tony made his way towards them, quite unsteadily. 

" _He_ a friend of yours?" the older girl questioned with raised eyebrows, causing Eleanora to smirk and nod. 

"Yeah. Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine." 

"Oh, gross. Lenny, wha's wrong with her?" Tony asked, scrunching his face up as he looked at Lily throwing up into the flowers again. 

"Too much to drink, and I don't think you're very far off," she told him, eyeing his shirt, which was covered in beer, and the wasted look in his eyes. "You're swaying." 

"You were worse on- on spring break." 

"That was when we had days to recover, you only have tomorrow and then you have classes again." 

"Way to kill the mood," he grumbled, before letting out a burp. 

"Alright cool, well, I'm gonna grab my friends and get Lily home," the older girl began, eyeing Tony with slight distaste. "You're all good?" 

"Yeah, thanks," Eleanora answered, somewhat awkwardly. "You ready to head back then?" she asked Tony. 

"Noooo, I wanna stay awhile," he whined, albeit struggling steady himself. 

"I think you're done. Let me go find Katie and then we're going." 

"She's gone, you didn' see? She was dancin' on a table 'n fell off 'n broke her arm. Some mostly-sober person drove her to the hosp'tal." 

"Shit, alright. Let's get you back to bed then, mister." 

"No no, _I_ am the man, I'm meant to walk _you_ home. Be all chivalrous 'n shit." 

Eleanora rolled her eyes as they walked around the house and towards the campus. "Tony, do you remember on spring break when you said that we gotta stick together because we can't look after ourselves but we can look out for each other? This is me trying to look out for you when you're not going to." 

"I'm doin' fine! I don't need walking home!" 

"But I do?"

"Dressed like that, yeah," he said bluntly. 

"You're a prick," she laughed. "Fine, we'll go to mine first. My heels _are_ killing me." 

"So take them off." 

"No way, there is so much gross or sharp shit I could step on." 

"Then I'll give you a piggyback." 

Eleanora laughed. "Tony, even if you could walk in a straight line and I trusted you to be able to support my weight, my skirt would not allow that. But thank you." 

"Well, I tried," he shrugged. 

Eleanora was concerned about letting Tony walk back to his place on his own in the state he was in, to the point where she had tried to direct them towards his apartment figuring he wouldn't notice until they were at his door. But apparently he was still surprisingly attentive when drunk because it didn't take him long to notice the direction they were taking and inform her that he wasn't stupid. 

"Can I use your toilet real quick?" Tony asked as they arrived out the front of her apartment. 

"Yeah, of course. I'm gonna get changed, I need to get in my trackies." 

"In your _what_?" 

"Sweatpants."

While Tony used the bathroom, Eleanora tiredly kicked off her heels, wiggled out of her skirt, top, spanx and bra, and threw on a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms. Sweet relief.

"This is a nice couch," Tony said as she walked out of her bedroom, patting the arm of it. 

"You're gonna make it smell like beer," she complained, walking into the bathroom and starting to pull off her fake eyelashes. 

"This is a pretty nice apartment, Lenny. Definitely cleaner than mi- holy shit," he blurted out as he came around the corner and his eyes landed on Eleanora, who glanced around warily at the exclamation. 

"What?" 

"That does _not_ look right," he gestured to the fake eyelashes, staring in drunken fascination. "Does that hurt?" 

"Nope." 

"Can I take the other one off?" 

She raised her eyebrows. "If you were sober, maybe, but definitely not right now. You can't even stand up straight, I'm not letting you near my eyes." 

"Fair 'nuff. I wanna watch though." 

"Ah, the fascinating transformation from mediocre to swamp monster." 

"Don't insult swamp monsters," he shot back, causing her to laugh. "I'm totally kidding, you're not a swamp monster, Lenny." 

"Thanks," she said dryly. 

"No, I mean it. You look- you look really nice." 

"Alright, why don't you have some water and sit down for a bit," she rolled her eyes, resuming the removal of her makeup. "Don't watch me, I'm self-conscious." 

"Fine," he acquiesced dramatically, leaving the bathroom. 

Eleanora spent a few minutes getting her makeup off and thoroughly cleaning it to make sure she wouldn't break out. She then thoroughly cleaned her teeth, grateful for the fresh breath as opposed to the weird taste left in her mouth prior. When she walked out of the bathroom, she came to sudden halt. 

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." 

Tony was slumped over on the small couch, apparently passed out. She walked over and poked him harshly. 

"Oi, you've gotta get up. Tony. Tony! Up you get, lard arse." 

He didn't even stir. 

Eleanora let out a sigh. His position hardly looked comfortable. With a slight struggle, she pulled off his shoes, heaved his legs up onto the couch and shoved a cushion under his head. His shirt still reeked of beer and she hoped the smell wouldn't transfer to the couch. 

Or the blanket that she found herself throwing over him in case it got cold. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In regard to the mention of a muffin top, I would like to clarify that all bodies are beautiful, having fat on your tummy is completely normal and muffin tops are adorable. The only reason it's been written about in a negative light is that Eleanora has serious body image issues (which will be explored much deeper later in the story) and a reminder that she is a ~very unreliable narrator~.


	15. Put A Ring On It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The shit hath hitteth the fan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got too excited about sharing this so you get it early, bon appetit bitches

Naturally, Tony was very confused when he woke up Sunday morning. Not to mention, hung over. Details of the night were a little fuzzy but Eleanora filled him in on what she could, including his request to take off her fake eyelashes. 

He apologised for the impromptu and uninvited sleepover, but she hadn't cared all that much. It meant she hadn't had to worry about his ability to actually walk back to his own place, which she had very much been doubting at the time. However, she did tell him he had to get out soon, since he desperately needed a shower. 

Not before making him eggs, though. 

"Wait, what are _you_ eating?" he asked when she put it all on one plate and pushed it towards him. 

"I already ate," she shrugged. "You can sleep through quite a bit of noise." 

Katie returned to the apartment not long later with her forearm in a cast while he was still eating, and froze when her eyes landed on him. She looked at Eleanora with a raised eyebrow. 

"Well, this is a surprise." 

Tony choked on his food at her assumption and Eleanora just sighed and rolled her eyes. " _No_ , Katie. He just crashed on the sofa because he was too drunk to walk back to his own place, so if it smells like beer it's his fault." 

"Oh. That's less exciting then." 

**• • •**

A few weeks later on Wednesday morning, Tucker and Eleanora had made plans for breakfast since her classes didn't start until later, but when the time came, Eleanora found herself trying to come up with various excuses to not go. And look, she wasn't proud of it, but she really just wasn't feeling it. 

Or maybe she just didn't want to admit that since the time he had bruised her arm, she honestly wasn't all that comfortable around him. She knew it would pass and she knew it was a bit ridiculous considering how long it had already been, but every time he had touched her since, she found herself fighting the slight urge to pull away or shudder. It filled her with guilt because she knew he hadn't meant to and he felt extremely guilty about the incident and if he knew how she still felt after all this time, he would be deeply hurt. 

So when she walked into their usual cafe again, she decided she would make a point to touch him a lot and to let him touch her, hoping to numb whatever it was inside her that was convinced her he was a threat. Tucker would never hurt her. 

He wasn't there when she sat down in their booth, and it wasn't rare for him to be a minute or two late, but when it reached twelve minutes past their agreed meeting time she began to grow nervous. 

Just as she was about to call him, he rushed in, hair slightly messy. 

"Sorry," Tucker apologised as she stood up to greet him with a kiss. "Traffic was... chaotic." 

"It's okay," she assured him, ignoring the feeling that something was off. "How was your morning?" 

"Huh? Oh, uh... yeah, it was alright, I guess. Just a- a normal morning. I can't actually stay long today, I've got an appointment at nine-thirty." 

"What kind of appointment?" she asked, mainly because she couldn't really think of what to talk about. 

"Dentist." 

"You only went last week, did they find a cavity or something?" 

"I'm seeing the hygienist... got a build-up of plaque." 

"Ah." 

There was a lull of silence, which was broken when the waitress came and took their order. When she walked away, Tucker turned his head to glance out of the window, and Eleanora's eye was suddenly caught by a pink mark on his neck and collar. 

"You've got..." she started, reaching over the table and wiping at his skin, the consistency of the pink substance making her heart pick up speed. 

_Lipstick lipstick lipstick lipstick lipstick-_

"What is it?" he asked with force casualness, and Eleanora could tell he was nervous. 

"Nothing," she shrugged, forcing a fake smile on her face. "I should probably actually go to the dentist again too. You're better at managing your teeth than I am so god knows what mine are like. Who do you see again? Because my current dentist kind of weirds me out." 

Tucker scratched the back of his neck in thought. "I can't remember his name, some asian dude." 

Eleanora found it increasingly hard to keep smiling, the churning in her stomach growing. He wouldn't- surely. Tucker abhorred cheating, that's why the whole spring break issue was even an issue in the first place. But what else could possibly leave that kind of mark? And it definitely wasn't her because she didn't own anything in that shade.

The rest of breakfast dragged on, with Tucker seemingly relaxed, meanwhile Eleanora felt the steady ache in her chest rise as she struggled to come up with other explanations and convince herself that she was overthinking this. The dentist appointment had definitely sounded like bullshit but there wasn't anyway of knowing. 

Actually, that wasn't true - she could follow him. Though, she did have classes. But she also realised that if she were to go to class, she'd hardly be able to focus thinking about where Tucker might be. And god, she wasn't going to be _that_ girlfriend, was she? The one that follows her boyfriend around because she doesn't trust him? 

But Eleanora's curiosity was _burning_ and frankly, she _didn't_ trust him. This was just one incident, but looking back, this wasn't the first time he'd acted weirdly. She just never really took note of it. Well, in retrospect, clearly she had, or she wouldn't remember it, but she'd never put much thought into it because... she didn't actually know. There was a lot that Tucker did that she didn't put much thought into, or at least tried not to, and she had the uncomfortable suspicion that it was due to that fact that she didn't _want_ to think about it because, as fucked as it was, she was scared of being alone. And she hated that, she really did. 

So when they finished their breakfast and Tucker got into a taxi, Eleanora managed to hail another only seconds later and politely asked the driver to follow the taxi that Tucker was in. She was puzzled by how unsurprised he seemed by the request and she wondered how many people did this. 

The drive was a fair distance, and Eleanora was impressed that the driver had been able to tail the other taxi for that long a period of time. The car pulled up out the front of a row of shops on one of the main streets, where Tucker was getting out of a taxi a few shops ahead of where Eleanora's taxi driver had stopped the car, and she made sure to tip him generously before scrambling out and hiding herself at a table outside a cafe behind a large bush. 

Eleanora watched as Tucker stood on the sidewalk for awhile, clearly waiting for something. Even though she'd been mentally preparing herself, when a girl she had never seen before walked up to Tucker and greeted him with a heated kiss, she still felt every bit of the betrayal. Her heart didn't shatter, it didn't feel like broken glass. It was more of a tearing, like her heart was being torn up agonisingly slowly with each touch and act of affection the couple exchanged. Her lungs constricted and her eyes burned with tears. 

"How was your meeting?" the girl asked him, and Tucker shrugged. 

"Bit of a drag. Better now I'm with you." 

Eleanora swallowed harshly. 

The girl's smile brightened and when she reached her left hand up to cup his cheek, a glimmer caught Eleanora's eye. She narrowed her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly, the fragments of her heart beginning to beat heavily and erratically inside her chest. It was a ring, a glittering engagement ring on the fourth finger of her left hand. 

So that girl was engaged, that left two possibilities: 1) either the girl was engaged to some other guy, whom she was cheating on with Tucker or 2)-

"I think we should be able to get the florist and the invitations sorted today," Eleanora heard the girl telling Tucker. "There's actually a wedding bakery on this street too if you want to start sampling some. We also need to go to the travel agent about our honeymoon because-" 

She couldn't listen to any more. The realisation of what was really going on sending waves of rage, panic and nausea throughout her body. Eleanora stumbled to her feet and rushed down the street away from the couple, head and heart pounding with the information, until she reached a park, where she shakily lowered herself onto a bench. 

Tucker wasn't cheating on _her_. He was cheating on his fiancee _with_ Eleanora. _She_ was the mistress, _she_ was the affair. He was getting married, for fuck's sake. Between the betrayal, hurt, guilt and anger, her body seemed to be unable to deal with the whirlwind of emotions because suddenly she was throwing up in the grass, everything she had had for breakfast coming right back up again. 

The lingerie she had found poorly hidden in his room, the extra toothbrush in his bathroom, the frequent insistence that he go to her apartment rather than her going to his house, his refusal to give her a key to his place. The pieces were slamming together to form a horrifying image that she might have seen if she had bothered to take a closer look at them. But hadn't, because she hadn't realised there was a picture to look for in the first place. 

The betrayal, the rejection, the hurt - it was agonising, it was excruciating and she didn't know how to fix it. You couldn't wrap a bandage around a broken heart, you couldn't brush the dirt away from the wound and wipe it clean and disinfect it. It was just raw pain in a place that couldn't be reached, couldn't be tended to or comforted. 

Eleanora wanted to _scream_ , wanted to cry, wanted to destroy some shit. And when the memories of his possessiveness and paranoia about _her_ cheating on _him_ on spring break hit her like a truck, the anger that swirled weakly in the pit of her stomach burst into a fiery fury that roared like a hurricane inside her. 

How _dare_ he make her feel guilty for having fun with her friends when she was literally the girlfriend he was cheating on his fiancee with? How _dare_ he act so possessive and jealous when she was the side bitch he was fucking between _wedding planning?_

Eleanora furiously wiped away her tears, not wanting to be so vulnerable in public. She hailed down the next taxi that she saw and headed back towards her apartment, feeling as though she was struggling to hold all the pieces of her heart in her arms. When the driver passed a box of tissues back to her without a word, she found her grip slipping and she started crying even harder. 

Tussling her hair so that it somewhat shielded her blotchy face and throwing up her hood, she walked back into her apartment, climbed back into her bed and continued crying. 

**• • •**

When Eleanora wasn't in the lecture theatre that morning, Tony figured she must have slept in again. He'd saved her a seat again and told a few people to get lost when they'd tried to take it, so he did feel a little bad when she never actually turned up. Just a little. He was more focused on why she wasn't there in the first place. She had a habit of dragging herself to class no matter what state she was in so the fact that she hadn't shown up meant that she was either having a _real_ big sleep in or that she was _real_ sick. 

Neither of them were particularly ideal. 

So he actually paid attention and tried to make his notes a little bit more legible so that she could copy them. He had a law class that afternoon but decided that instead of going to that, he'd go to Eleanora's place to see what was going on. 

The only problem was that, when he knocked on the apartment door, no one answered. 

"Lenny? You in there?" he called. 

Silence. 

He knocked a couple more times until it was clear that no one was there. Okay, so maybe she just had decided she had better things to do. Still, it was too late to go to his law class now, he'd just have to catch up later and go back to his own place and tinker around, what a shame. 

**• • •**

Eleanora knew that Tony would probably poke fun at her for missing class, but she certainly didn't expect him to knock on her door that afternoon. She was about to call out in response to say that she was coming when she stopped herself. There was no way of explaining _this_ without telling him what had happened and that was _not_ happening. 

No only was it humiliating, it just hurt so fucking much and she didn't want to talk about it and she didn't want Tony to know how fucked up she actually was because, at this point, he was her only friend (except for Rhodey, but she still hadn't seen him since spring break). 

A part of her screamed for her to respond, to enjoy the boy's company because he was, admittedly, very funny even when he wasn't trying to be and she craved comfort, she craved something other than the rejection that had swallowed her whole. But the other part of her held her tongue, filled her with fantasies of how things could seem normal if she pretended everything was okay. 

And she knew that it was dumb, but it was still surprisingly appealing, which is why, even as Tony continue to knock, she remained silent and waited for him to go. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love ~healthy coping mechanisms~


	16. Like a Record

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is concerned about Eleanora and she tries to push him away. 
> 
> Key word - tries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for drugging and attempted sexual assault

"What's wrong with you?" 

Eleanora rolled over in her bed to face away from Katie, wincing at the morning sunshine in her eyes. "I'm fine, just leave me alone." 

Apparently realising that this was more serious than she initially thought, Katie hesitantly walked up to the bed. "Nora, I know we're not that close and I'm bad at talking about emotional stuff but you know I'm still here for you, right? You can talk to me about anything, I won't judge you." 

She didn't know that, and she realised that maybe she had completely misread their friendship. "I know," she mumbled, still not turning around. 

"Did you and Tucker break up?" 

Eleanora shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it, I just need time." 

"Okay... you going to classes today or taking some time for yourself? I can take notes for you in biochem." 

She let out a sigh and rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. "No, I better go. I missed yesterday's classes." 

"Look at you go. I'll make you a coffee," Katie declared and left the room. 

When Eleanora stumbled out into the kitchen after getting dressed, sure enough, Katie had a coffee waiting for her on the table. She took a big sip, crinkling her nose up at the odd taste. "This tastes really different." 

"Yeah, I put rum in it."

Eleanora stared at her, a wave of fondness for the girl blooming in her chest. "You're amazing." 

"Yeah, I know," she grinned. 

**• • •**

It didn't take long for Eleanora to begin to regret her decision to go to class, finding it difficult to not think about the previous day's events and to hold herself together. 

"Well, well, look who it is," Eleanora heard as Tony took the seat beside her. "You wanna tell me why you abandoned me yesterday? I looked like a total jackass guarding a seat that no one ended up sitting in." 

She forced a weak smile. "You always look like a jackass." 

"Fair," he shrugged, before narrowing his eyes at her. "What's wrong?" 

The question made the lump in her throat swell sharply. "Fine." 

"You don't sound fine. What happened?" 

" _Nothing_ , I'm fine." 

"Tell me," he demanded childishly, poking her arm. "Is it why you disappeared yesterday?" 

"Just drop it," she huffed. 

"Mm, no. Tell me." 

Eleanora ignored him. 

"Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me-" 

"Can you shut the fuck up?!" she snapped finally, causing Tony to fall quiet. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, biting the inside of her cheek guiltily. "Sorry." 

"That was on me," he replied quietly with a shake of his head. "I deserved that... You really don't wanna tell me?" 

"Nope." 

There was a bit of an awkward silence and Eleanora busied herself with getting out her things while she waited for the professor to begin. 

"Did you bring lunch?" Tony asked quietly.

"Uh, I forgot."

"Alright, guess I'll have to buy you lunch."

"I can buy it myself," she replied shortly, and although she was anticipating Tony to continue pushing it, he just gave a small nod. 

"Okay... where-" 

"Alright, let's do this," the professor spoke up, cutting Tony off.

**• • •**

Eleanora knew she was being a coward and she knew it was a dick move, but when the lecture ended, she packed up in record time, muttered an excuse about needing to pee and raced out of the hall with the rest of the crowd leaving Tony behind. 

She didn't need to eat lunch, but she knew someone like Tony wouldn't get it and she really didn't want to deal with the whole food thing right now. However, her body was growing slightly shaky and the grumble her stomach let out when she looked over at the nearest cafe made her sigh in defeat. 

Caving in, she ended up going inside and ordering a sandwich. 

"Five-fifty please," the cashier smiled. 

Eleanora rummaged through her purse, heart falling slightly when she only found a five dollar bill and a quarter - after all, she hadn't been planning on buying anything. She certainly wasn't short of money, she just tried to carry as little on her as possible so that she wouldn't buy so much. But now she was very hungry and couldn't afford the sandwich she wanted. 

"Sorry..." she mumbled in embarrassment, glancing back up at the menu. "On second thoughts I'll get..." 

She trailed off when someone reached around her and placed another quarter on the counter. 

"Short of change?" Tony asked, his expression smug. He wasn't sure what the fuck had happened earlier or why she had ran off, but when he'd seen her in the cafe he figured he had another shot at working out what was wrong. However, she just glared at him - not the response he was expecting. "Where did you run off to?" 

"You know what, never mind, sorry to bother you," she apologised again to the cashier, before storming out of the cafe. He stared after her for a moment in bewilderment before hurrying after her. 

"Hey, c'mon, I just want to help!" he called, jogging to catch up with her. 

"I didn't realise someone like you even carried around quarters." 

Tony raised an eyebrow, fighting the urge to snap back at the cheap shot. Not to mention hypocritical - her family was certainly comfortable. "For vending machines. Now are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on? Why you're so shitty at me?" 

Eleanora swallowed and looked away. "I'm not shitty at you." 

He let out a bark of a laugh. "Well you could have fooled me. I'm trying to _help_ you, Lenny." 

"I don't _need_ your help! I don't need anything from anybody!" she seethed, and although her tone was angry, her expression was wounded. 

His face softened slightly and he took a step towards her, but she just shook her head and stormed off again. Tony let out a sigh. "What the fuck?" 

**• • •**

Eleanora managed to avoid Tony for the rest of Wednesday, as well as Thursday. However, on Friday, he caught her leaving the library as he was about to go in. They stared at each other for a few awkward moments before speaking at the same time. 

"I'm sorry-" "You're still coming to my party, right?" 

Eleanora blinked. 

"I mean... you don't have to," Tony continued, clearing his throat. "Something's going on with you and I'm not sure what but you don't have to tell me and I know I made the party sound like a big deal, but I was just being dramatic - if you don't wanna come because of whatever's going on or you just don't want to, I'm not gonna force you to come-" 

"Of course I'm coming," she interrupted quietly, before her lips quirked upwards. "It's really what I need right now, to be honest. To just get completely fucked up." 

He sighed. "You're not gonna tell me what's bothering you?" 

Eleanora smiled softly and went to move past him, "bye, Tony." 

He gently grasped her arm and a spark of panic jolted through her before she reminded herself it was just Tony. 

"Lenny... does _anyone_ know what it is? Or are you just trying to deal with it yourself and doing so unsuccessfully?" 

Well that was fucking rude. 

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm okay," she insisted, shrugging him off. 

"So, the latter then."

"Bye, Tony!" 

She heard him let out a sigh as she walked away. 

**• • •**

Saturday afternoon, Eleanora arrived at Tony and Rhodey's apartment to help set up for Tony's party, gift bag in hand. 

"Hey," the boy greeted as he opened the door for her and let her in. Boxes and packets for decorations lay all over the floor, while the kitchen counter was covered in food and drinks yet to be prepared. 

"Happy birthday! Wow, this place is a mess." 

"We're working on it," he defended. "But thanks." 

"Hey, Nora!" Rhodey called as he tied up a balloon. 

"Hi, Rhodey. He dragged you into helping too, did he?" Eleanora teased. 

"Don't act like you don't wanna be here, you could have said no," Tony replied, before noticing the gift bag in her hand. "Is that for me?" 

"Yeah... it's your birthday."

"Can I open it?" 

Eleanora smiled at his poorly-hid excitement and handed it over. "Yeah, of course. It's yours." 

Tony sat down on the sofa and pulled out the tissue paper she had stuck on the top before reaching in and grabbing the first part of his gift - a hip flask set. "Thanks, Lenny," he grinned. 

"It might only be your eighteenth but since eighteen is the legal drinking age in Europe, we can celebrate that." 

The next thing he pulled out was a multi-tool pen - a pen that was also a ruler, a spirit level, a screwdriver, a nail file, a bottle opener and more. "It's basically a swiss army knife in pen form," she explained as he examined it. "Thought I might be useful when you're designing more robots and... stuff." 

"Thank you... that's really thoughtful." 

"There's still one more thing," Eleanora added when he went to move the bag away. "It's pretty dumb... and you might not get it if you don't remember the reference, I-" 

She cut herself off in relief when Tony lifted out the mug and let out a bright laugh. It had 'parasite' printed on it in big black letters, but was crossed out with a red line and had 'awesome friend' printed above it in a messy scrawl. "I love it," he insisted. "Thank you." 

The next couple of hours passed quickly, with Eleanora and Rhodey helping Tony to put up decorations, prepare food and drinks and clean up the rubbish. 

"You guys are really important, okay?" Tony was telling them as he sorted out what music would play. "You're my hype people. You've gotta get the party started before it's begun, okay? Hype people up so it kicks off." 

"Yep, got it, no problem," Eleanora nodded. "That better mean I can get drunk earlier though. If I'm going to hype up people, I need to be hyped myself." 

He grinned and gave a small roll of his eyes. "Sure." 

**• • •**

Eleanora could admit that maybe she'd gone a little far when it came to 'hyping' herself up, however it did mean that she was a _lot_ of fun and she did indeed get the party started as people gradually rocked up. Katie had no problem helping her out when she arrived.

The only problem was that it made her a little too honest, so when Maddie rocked up halfway through the night with a bow around her head claiming that _she_ was Tony's birthday present, she very loudly said "yeesh, some present", earning a harsh glare from the girl. Eleanora really couldn't have given less of a shit about what Maddie thought of her, and just smiled sweetly, meanwhile Katie burst into loud giggles, clutching onto her shoulder to steady herself. 

As the night continued, Eleanora knew she'd had a lot to drink, but in the scheme of things, she was doing okay. More importantly, she was having a real fun time. Especially when You Spin Me Round started playing a couple hours later. She scanned the room for Tony, but he was busy mingling with other people. 

"RHODEY!" she shrieked, running over to the older boy and dragging him to the makeshift dance floor. "Dance with meeee!" she beamed, beginning to spin around on the spot, causing Rhodey to burst into laughter. 

"That's so fucking rude, don't laugh at my dancing," she pouted, grabbing his hands and starting to spin the two of them around in circles. " _You spin me right 'round, baby, right 'round like a record, baby, right 'round, 'round, 'round."_

"Why are your hands so sticky?" Rhodey questioned with a laugh as they spun. Eleanora just cackled. 

"I need another drink," she declared when the chorus ended, swaying slightly after all the spinning. 

"You sure about that?" 

"Didn't ask for your opinion!" 

Tony made his way over to Rhodey, who was shaking his head as Eleanora skipped away happily. 

"She worries me a bit, man." 

"Yeah, me too," Tony agreed. "But she can handle herself." 

Seconds after he said that, they both watched as she downed an entire cup of... something in mere seconds, making the two wince. A short while later, Push It started playing and Eleanora dragged Tony over to dance with her because she 'didn't want to be an idiot by herself'. 

"Do you like fried rice?" she asked him out of the blue. "I _love_ fried rice. I had some for lunch today, it was _so_ good." 

"Yeah, fried rice is good," he replied in amusement. "Why do you ask?" 

"I just burped and the taste of it came up in my mouth... just reminded me of it." 

"Lovely... you okay?" he raised his eyebrows when she paused for a moment, blinking hard. 

"I can feel my blood flowing through my veins." 

"Yeah, that's enough alcohol for you," he sighed, taking the half-empty cup out of her hand. She protested weakly as he placed it on a nearby coffee table. "Nuh-uh," he reprimanded when she went to reach around him and grab it back. "You need some water first." 

"This is on _you_ , you told me to hype, and I'm hypin'," she slurred. 

"And you've done it beautifully, but I think you should slow down, or you'll end up blowing chunks on my carpet and that will be on you to clean up." 

"'M fine! You're actually killing my vibes right now." 

"You were the one who dragged me over here!" 

"Ya, until you rained on my boozy parade," she shot back, grabbing her cup back and chugging the rest of it. 

"Jesus Christ." 

"Okay, I'm done for now! Now are you gonna throw shapes with me?" 

Tony let out a laugh and ran his hand through is hair as he nodded. "Can't let you make an idiot out of yourself alone, so sure." 

About twenty minutes later, Eleanora found herself slowing down, dizziness and drowsiness growing. Her head was beginning to ache and her stomach was beginning to feel a bit not-right. Maybe Tony was right. Deciding that dancing was certainly not going to make her feel better, she slumped into the corner of one of the sofas, letting herself relax for a bit. 

"You 'right, Nora?" Katie asked, evidently drunk but still concerned. 

Eleanora nodded tiredly. "Just need'a sit down for a bit." 

"'Kay, lemme know if y'need anything." 

Time seemed to pass in a hazy blur and it wasn't until a hand rested on her leg that she realised someone was talking to her - well, trying to. 

"'M good, 'm good," she mumbled, brushing the hand away, however, it immediately just moved higher up her leg, beginning to move gently up and down her inner thigh. Panic jolted through her like electricity and she tried to move away, but found herself struggling to control her body. 

"C'mon just relax," a voice whispered in her ear. 

_No no no no no no no._

She needed to get away and she needed to get somewhere safe. 


	17. I Didn't Have Any Corn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora's friends look after her.

Tony was walking to the kitchen to get something else to eat when he almost tripped over as someone stuck their leg out. 

"Tony!" a voice slurred, and he turned to see Eleanora flopped on the couch looking not well at all. 

The guy who had been sitting beside her conveniently chose that moment to stand up and move away, so Tony quickly took his seat. "You okay?" 

"I don't... don't feel so well," she groaned, and he shook his head in exasperated amusement. 

"You _have_ had a lot to drink." 

Eleanora shook her head, though. "Tha's not what I... s'mth'n in my drink... feel super weak..." 

Tony's blood ran cold and he furiously scanned the room for the guy who had just been sitting there, but couldn't spot him. "Shit... okay... why don't we get you somewhere quieter-" 

"Think 'm gonna be sick." 

His panic rose as he helped her onto to her feet and slowly shuffled to the bathroom, her weight growing heavier and heavier as she grew weaker. He decided his ensuite would be the better option as the main bathroom was rather busy. 

"Okay... there you go," he sighed as she settled herself in front of the toilet. "How are you feeling?" 

He placed a hand on her shoulder, however she jerked away, eyes wide. 

"It's just me," he held his hands up, yet she still moved further away from him until she was pressed against the counter. Tony swallowed and ran his hand through his hair anxiously, a deep uneasiness in his chest rising. "Lenny, c'mon. Let me help you." 

Eleanora just curled further into herself, gripping the edge of the toilet. And although he was admittedly hurt by her fear of him, he was more disturbed over _why_ she would be. 

"'M fine. It's my business if I feel the need to smoke and drink and sway... and it's my problem if I have no friends 'n feel I wanna die," she mumbled. 

Tony stared at her for a moment at a loss for words, having no idea how to deal with this situation. "I don't care what you think is _your_ business, I'm not leaving you like this." 

Eleanora suddenly jerked forward and heaved, although nothing came out. She groaned softly and rested her cheek against the toilet seat, which made Tony cringe. "Don't- don't do that," he said softly, lifting her head off of it, heart clenching when she flinched slightly again. 

"Did you do this?" she asked weakly, staring at him tiredly, defeatedly. The question made his heart stop. "I'm sorry for snapping at you the other day, but-" 

"Wait, what the fuck? _No,_ I didn't do this, why the fuck would you think I _drugged_ you? Is that really what you think of me?"

Eleanora shook her head, eyebrows furrowing. "No... sorry, I dunno why I said that. I think... I think that you put up a front to hide the fact that you feel vulnerable and you're kind of a dick sometimes, but I don't think tha's really you. 'Cause I've seen _you..._ seen you geeking out over Star Wars 'n nerding out over science shit 'n getting angry 'n upset, but you never show that. You hide what you're truly feeling with arr'gance and narc'sm and it's like a people filter. And I get it... but I also think you would be happier if you let people in once in a while." 

Tony let out a heavy sigh, but gave her a soft smile. "Why do you think I'm here? Anyway, you can stop psychoanalysing me now." 

She smiled weakly, but it rapidly dropped again as she leant forward, head in the bowl and threw up. Her hands shakily reached up for her hair trying to get it out of her face, although rather unsuccessfully. Tony pulled the hair tie off her wrist and (with difficulty) pulled her hair into some semblance of a ponytail so it was out of her face, relieved that she wasn't flinching away from him anymore. After throwing up again, Eleanora groaned and leaned slightly into Tony's side. 

"I'm gonna go get you some water," he told her going to stand up, although her hand sluggishly reached to grab his wrist and she looked at him pleadingly, eyes darting over to the doorway. 

"Please don't leave me alone... I don't wanna... I can't..." 

"Okay, okay," he quickly amended. "Let me just... shit." 

"Tones, you down here?" a voice called from the hallway and Tony sighed in relief. 

"In here, Rhodey!" 

Rhodey appeared in the bathroom doorway, eyes widening when he saw Eleanora. "What happened to her?" 

"Fucking roofies," he spat. "I don't even know who would've... there was some guy sitting next to her when I found her but he took off and I didn't realise what was really happening until he was gone." 

"Doesn't matter now. She's safe. What do you want me to?" 

"Can you please get some cold water? She's thrown up a couple times already." 

"Yeah, of course. I'll be back in a minute," Rhodey nodded, disappearing again. 

"I'm sorry," Eleanora sighed, making Tony frown. 

"What the hell for?" 

"I shouldn'a gone so hard... wouldn'a happened if I stopped earlier." 

"This is not your fault, Lenny. Not at all. I don't know who the fuck did this but I'll find him and break his fucking neck." 

"Nora? Shit, she okay?"

Tony turned to look at Katie, who stumbled into the bathroom and knelt down on her other side. "She got roofied," he answered grimly. 

The redhead let out a soft groan and started rubbing Eleanora's back soothingly. "You'll be okay... No one's gonna hurt you."

He remembered Eleanora telling him that she and Katie weren't very close, but he could tell just from the expression on Katie's face that she cared deeply about the girl.

"Tony!" a high-pitched voice in the doorway called, and Tony closed his eyes for a moment before turning to face Maddie with a strained smile. "What are you doing in here? Come out and party." 

"I'm kind of busy right now," he replied, giving her a weird look and gesturing to Eleanora. 

"She'll be fine, we've all been there," Maddie insisted. "C'mon, it's your _birthday party."_

"Uh, no, I'm not leaving her." 

"It kind of feels like you're prioritising her..." 

Tony couldn't help his scoff, "my friend had been drugged and is throwing her guts up, you are _fine_ , of course I'm prioritising her." 

Maddie blinked at him, evidently not having expected that response, before she started twirling her hair in her fingers and licked her lips. "I'll make it worth your while..." 

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he blurted out in anger. 

"Excuse me?" 

"Can you leave, already?" Katie groaned before he could respond. "You're so fucking annoying." 

Suddenly Rhodey appeared in the doorway again, cup of water in hand. He took one look at Katie, Maddie and Tony and shook his head, "get outta here, Maddie." 

The girl looked indignantly at Tony, waiting for him to defend her, but he just handed the water to Eleanora and folded up some toilet paper for her to wipe her mouth with. He heard Maddie let out a frustrated huff before storming out of the room, leaving the four alone in the bathroom. 

"She always like that?" Katie scrunched up her nose, causing Rhodey to let out a laugh and nod. "What a bitch. And you're dating that?" she looked to Tony with an expression of disbelief on her face. 

He let out a cough and scratched the back of his neck. He knew the girl could be pretty blunt at times, but it seemed alcohol had inhibited her filter entirely. He ignored the smirk his best friend was shooting him. "Um, yeah." 

"I thought you were meant to be a genius or something." 

Tony huffed out a laugh. 

"You know what this is making me realise?" Eleanora croaked after another vomit. 

"That drinks should never be left unattended?" Tony suggested. 

"That men are the scum of the earth?" Katie piped up. 

"No... I already knew... both those things. _You_ guys are nice though, you're good. Tucker's kinda mean though... he bruised my arm when we got back from spring break. Anyway, I'm _realising_ that I need to chew more, that is _wayyy_ too chunky." 

Tony would have been disgusted by the remark if he wasn't so distracted by the bruise thing. He exchanged a look with Rhodey, heart beating harder as anger bubbled up inside him. It was clear that Katie had no idea about it as she was staring at Eleanora, mouth agape. He knew that taking advantage of Eleanora's lack of filter wasn't right, but he couldn't hear something like that and ignore it. 

"How did he bruise you?"

"We were- we were arguing and then he jus' accidentally squeezed my arm super hard... really hurt. Kinda scared me, to be honest... think it scared him too, he didn't mean to." 

Tony swallowed, mind racing. 

"Oh my gosh, why are there maggots?!" she suddenly cried, looking into the toilet bowl, which made Tony frown and reluctantly glance into it too, almost gagging at the sight. 

"That's _rice_ , you had it for lunch, remember?" 

"Oh yeah.... wait, when did I have _corn?"_

"Please stop or I'm going to need to vomit too." 

Eleanora just cackled and Katie let out a drunken giggle. 

"I'm gonna grab some more water, stay with her, will you?" Tony asked Rhodey, who nodded and took a seat on the floor near Eleanora beside Katie. 

"Did I ever tell you about that time at MIT when Tony did a streak across campus?" he heard him ask as he walked out. He felt a little bad about leaving Rhodey to look after two drunk girls, but he didn't seem to mind. 

After topping her cup up with cold water because he remembered her telling him once that 'room temperature water is horrid, cold water is where it's _at'_ , Tony made his way back to his ensuite, however, Maddie then latched onto his arm. "Hey, baby, come dance with me!" 

"Maddie, I just told you, I have other problems right now," he said flatly. 

"You can't be serious." 

"My friend was fucking roofied-" 

"James and that other girl can babysit her. It's _your_ birthday party, I don't see why you have to-" 

"You realise this isn't because I feel obligated to, right? I care about her and want to make sure she's okay." 

"And what about _me_?" Maddie demanded. "Do you care about _me_?" 

"Stop acting like it's you or her, she's _scared_ and you're just bored." 

"You know, that's actually a good idea, Tony. Me or her?" 

_"What?"_

"Me or her?" she repeated. "If you go back in there, you pick her and we're done. Otherwise you can stay out here and actually have fun." 

Tony stared at her in disbelief, puzzled and furious at the ultimatum. "I'm not picking her over you Maddie, I'm choosing to look after my sick friend rather than ignore her and fucking dance! Grow up." 

With that, he stalked off towards the bathroom again, leaving Maddie behind. He knew that he'd have to deal with that later, but he really had other priorities. Eleanora gratefully accepted the water, taking deep breaths between slow careful sips from the cup. 

"How are you feeling?" Rhodey asked. 

"Better... I- I hate this feeling, though. Like... I know alcohol makes me do dumb shit 'n makes me lose control of myself but this is a whole other level... like when you're trying to run away in a nightmare but can't get your legs to work... scary." 

Tony wasn't sure how long he, Rhodey and Katie spent in the bathroom keeping Eleanora company, but the noise coming from the living room started to gradually die down at the same time that Eleanora grew sleepy and eventually curled up on cold tiled floor with her head in Katie's lap. The redhead looked close to falling asleep herself, but was seemingly keeping herself awake for Eleanora's sake

"I think someone's ready for bed," Rhodey raised an eyebrow. 

Tony nodded. "Alright... let's... let's just put her in my bed for the night. C'mon, Lenny, you wanna go to bed? You gotta get up first." 

She just let out a loud groan. 

"Come on.... I know you hate being picked up but if you don't move, I won't have another choice." 

Another ambiguous noise. 

"Okay... Wanna give me a hand, guys?" 

With the help of Rhodey and Katie, Tony managed to get Eleanora off the bathroom floor and onto his bed. Immediately, she curled back into the fetal position. 

"Do you wanna crash here?" Tony asked Katie, who started to shake her head, but then looked distrustfully at the two boys. "You're welcome to stay, but if you wanna go back to your apartment, I promise I won't let anything happen to Lenny." 

She looked between them before shaking her head. "I'll go home. But I'll castrate both'a you if you- if you fail to keep that promise. 'N I'm studying vet science, so..." 

"Noted." 

"I'll make sure she gets back safely," Rhodey offered, then looked over at the redhead. "If you want my company that is..." 

Katie looked him up and down with a rather severe lack of subtly and nodded, making Tony snigger. "Lead the way, good sir." 

"I think people have started going home. I'll take this one back and make sure there's nothing major that need cleaning up," Rhodey offered, and then glanced at Eleanora. "And see if anyone saw anything. Maybe someone knows who did it." 

"Thanks," Tony nodded, pulling the covers over her. 

"It smells like you," she murmured as the other two left. 

"Is that... a good thing?" 

"It's a very good thing, you smell really good." 

"Okay," he chuckled. "Well, I'm gonna go see if-" 

"Please don't leave," she whispered, so quietly he only just caught it. "I'm scared... and really alone. Fuck, I'm lonely. Fuck'n parents... making me think everything is a competition... putting career above _everything_... I haven't enjoyed my life, y'know? I wanna have fun... like on spring break." 

"We've got plenty of time to do fun stuff," he promised. "We can do whatever you want." 

"Go on a boat?" 

Tony snickered. "What?"

"I've never been on a boat before... looks scary but kinda fun." 

"I've got a yacht." 

"'Course you do." 

Tony grinned, although it faded when Eleanora sluggishly rolled onto her back and frowned up at the ceiling. "You know how you said I was a good judge of character?" 

"Yeah?" 

"I thought I was too... now I don't know what to think." 

"Why do you say that?" 

"Turns out he has a fiancee," she stated not needing to specify who, and Tony's heart dropped. "I kinda suspected he was cheating but it turns out _I_ was the mistress and I had no idea. And I feel like I can't be upset because _I'm_ the one ruining _her_ life." 

He sighed heavily and sat down on the bed beside her on top of the covers. "You can't honestly believe that. You're not in the wrong at all if you had no idea. _He's_ the one ruining the relationship, not you, and you're certainly allowed to be upset." 

"I think I'm more angry than sad... kinda knew we weren't right near the end. But he's always been so f'ckin possessive 'n jealous 'n then to find out I'm just the side bitch... it's a bit shit." 

Hearing Eleanora refer to herself as 'the side bitch' made Tony clench his fists, knowing she deserved far more than that. He'd been trying to calm his anger, but as Eleanora wiped tears from her eyes, stoic expression faltering, he felt the storm pick up speed. 

"So yeah.. that's what's new with me," she continued lightly, pulling the blankets up higher. She then glanced at Tony sitting on top of the covers and lifted them up slightly - an invitation. 

"I'm good," he shook his head, lips quirking upwards. 

"Aren't you cold?" 

"I'm fine, actually." That was a lie, he was kind of cold, but considering what had happened to Eleanora that night, the last thing he wanted to do was overstep any kind of boundaries. 

"M'kay," she mumbled, curling up tighter, eyes fluttering shut. 

"Get some sleep, Lenny," he said softly, moving to stand up, only for her eyes to snap open in panic and dart over to the doorway. "I'm not leaving. I'll just be right here," he hastily assured her, gesturing down on the floor between the bed and the door. 

A frown formed on Eleanora's face. "You can't sleep on the floor, it'll be cold 'n uncomfortable. This bed is massive, just-" 

"I'll be fine, see?" he promised grabbing a blanket and a pillow off the bed and showing them to her before throwing them on the floor. "It's not a problem, honest." 

"Okay... G'night, Tony." 

"Goodnight, Lenny." 

Tony lay down on the carpet and covered himself with the blanket, already plotting a thousand different ways to kill Tucker, as well as whoever had roofied Eleanora. Thoughts raced through his head as he tried to process everything that he had learned that night. 

It didn't take long before he heard Eleanora's breathing even out and slight snores escaped her. When he knew she was asleep, he got out of his makeshift bed and left the room to help Rhodey. 

"Sorry, man," Rhodey shook his head as he tipped a dustpan of broken glass into the bin. "No one I asked saw anything." 

Tony clenched his jaw wondering how it had happened. It was at _his_ birthday party, in he and Rhodey's own apartment, full of people that _he_ invited. And he was the one who had encouraged Eleanora to drink and then told her to slow down- 

An icy chill washed over him when he remembered cutting her off, remembered taking away her cup and putting it down, only for her to take it back and down it a few minutes later. If he hadn't interfered, her drink would have remained in her hands, safe. 

"Tony..." Rhodey sighed knowingly, coming up to him and putting a firm hand on his shoulder. "This isn't your fault." 

"I invited all of those people, I-" 

"We both know that's not true. There's gate crashers at every party and considering who you are, there were definitely quite a few tonight. And even if it was someone you _did_ invite, you couldn't have known." 

Tony shook his head. "Lenny knows how to protect herself, she always takes her own drinks to things and she never puts them down. _I_ was the one that took her cup away from her and put it down, I never thought that..." 

"Exactly. You didn't know, this isn't your fault," Rhodey insisted. "And Nora's okay, that's what matters. There's not point lingering on what could have happened or whose fault it was. I know it's hard for you... but stop making everything about yourself." 

Tony gave a weak laugh before letting out a heavy sigh. "Maddie and I are done... I think." 

"Wait, what? And what do you mean, you ' _think_ '?" 

"When I went to get Lenny another glass of water she asked me to dance with her and asked why you couldn't 'babysit' her and why I wasn't prioritising her. And then she told me to choose between her and Lenny and said 'if you go back in there, you pick her and we're done' when Lenny was literally throwing up. So I told her to grow up. I mean, who _does_ that?" 

Rhodey let out a low whistle. "Wow. Yeah, I'd imagine she's not coming back. You okay?" 

"Yeah, fine. It's kind of a relief, to be honest," he admitted. "She's exhausting." 

He could feel Rhodey watching him closely for any sign he was lying and shot him a tight smile. 

"Well, I don't disagree with you, and I barely talked to her. Now get some sleep, we've got a big day of cleaning tomorrow." 

Tony smiled slightly as Rhodey clapped him on the shoulder and headed to his bedroom. 

"Night, honey bear." 

"Night, Tones." 

Tony did not sleep well that night. He kept thinking about the fear in Eleanora's eyes in response to _him._ And then the desperation in her voice when she begged him not to leave her alone. While fear was certainly an appropriate response to the situation, he couldn't help but think that there was something instinctive about her reactions. 

Like it had happened before. 


	18. Primadonna Life, The Rise and Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora has some important conversations. 
> 
> Including confronting Tucker.

Eleanora was used to waking up with little recollection of the previous night, but when she opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in, she immediately knew that something was different. She didn't have a vague memory of the night, flashes of scenes in her memory like she usually did. She remembered the first few hours quite clearly, but then it grew fuzzy and then... completely blank. And to be honest, she was a little scared. 

As she glanced around the room, she didn't recognise it, however something about the smell of the bed she was in was very familiar. And when she heard a noise from the floor beside the bed and groggily lifted her head to see Tony curled up on the carpet with a thin blanket draped over him, she had her answer. Immediately, some of the tension and anxiety inside her uncoiled, and she let out a heavy breath, although she was still struggling to remember anything after _Push It_ came on and it was irritating her beyond belief. 

Eleanora stared fixedly at the white ceiling, digging through her memories for something only to keep coming back with nothing. She knew, logically, that nothing probably happened - she'd likely just gotten blackout drunk and Tony had no choice but to offer her to stay the night. But something didn't feel _right_ , she knew she was missing something, something important and it was making her stomach churn. 

"Lenny?" 

She blinked and turned to look at Tony, who was sitting up, a sleepy look on his face and hair all over the place. He was frowning at her, and for a moment she wondered if he'd asked her a question. "You feeling okay?" 

Eleanora was about to answer when a sudden thought struck her and she bit her lip guiltily. "Did I push you off the bed in the middle of the night? I'm so sorry." 

Tony blinked in confusion and shook his head. "No, no. You kept trying to get me to get into bed with you - not like that-" he quickly amended at the expression on her face, "You were just very concerned that I was cold, but you were drunk and I didn't want to seem like I was... taking advantage of you or anything." 

"Oh... thanks. I really appreciate that. What... what happened last night? I know I drank a lot but... I really don't remember much at all." 

He glanced away for a second, although his voice remained casual, "I can tell you, but do you wanna shower first? No offence, but you're a mess. You're totally stinking up my bed." 

"I don't have any clothes to change into." 

"I've probably got some of Maddie's stuff around," he shrugged, getting to his feet and beginning to search through his drawers. 

"I don't think she'd like that very much." 

"She doesn't like a lot, she can deal with it." 

Eleanora's eyebrows raised slightly but didn't comment. She scooted out of the bed and took the clothes that Tony handed to her, hoping for the sake of her self-esteem that they'd fit, thankful it was just a t-shirt and stirrup pants. 

"There's spare towels in the cupboard," he told her, gesturing into the bathroom. "and some toothbrushes in the drawer to." 

"You're very prepared," she rolled her eyes. 

Tony just let out a laugh and shook his head. "I'm an accommodating host." 

When Eleanora walked out the bathroom after showering, washing her hair and brushing her teeth, she felt significantly better. 

When she walked out, Tony was picking up rubbish in the living room, dressed and with wet hair, clearly having used the second bathroom to shower too. 

"You hungry? Rhodey just went to pick up some breakfast." 

Eleanora shook her head, slumping into an armchair. "So, you going to tell me what happened?" She didn't miss the unreadable expression that flitted across his face as he let out a sigh as he sat down near her on the couch. An uneasy feeling stirred. "...What is it?" 

"Some fucker tried to roofie you. Well... he didn't _try,_ he _did_." 

Her heart seized and icy panic shot through her. " _What?!"_

"Nothing happened to you," he assured quickly. "Rhodey and I were with you the rest of the night. No one came near you you, I promise." 

"Thank you... You really don't know how much I appreciate that. I feel terrible that you had to babysit me and that you had to sleep on the floor, but that was really thoughtful." 

"Considering how well you analysed me last night, I'm a little offended you would think I would let a drunk, roofied girl wander off on her own at a college party, especially in my own apartment."

"Yeah, but... you could've been actually having fun." 

"I feel much better knowing you were safe than if I hadn't been with you and found you hours later in... god knows what state." 

Eleanora curled into herself slightly, fiddling with the hem of her shirt in thought before shaking it off and changing the subject. "What embarrassing shit did I do last night? I know I did something, so just tell me." 

Tony scratched the back of his neck. "Well, you vomited a fair bit and made quite a few gross comments about it that were not appreciated. You didn't really do anything embarrassing though - although you did tell me I smell really good," he added with a smug expression, making her groan softly. "You just... went much deeper into your current problems than I think you would have sober." 

Eleanora's face dropped slightly. "What kind of problems? Like... my-spectroscopy-group-task-is-going-to-be-the-death-of-me kind of problems?" 

"Uh, more so how dissatisfied with your life you are because of the issues you have with your parents. And the fact that your boyfriend is a lying, cheatingfuckface. Like I actually want to rip his fucking-" 

"Oh, _god."_

"Hey, this is good," he tried. "This is what friends do, they tell each other their problems, have deep and meaningful discussions." 

"Great, so I'm significantly better at friendships when I'm drunk and on drugs." 

"Isn't everyone?" 

Eleanora laughed, but then groaned and buried her face in her hands. 

"Lenny... you don't have to answer this, but... has it happened before? The, uh, roofie thing?" 

She swallowed and bit the inside of her cheek as she nodded. "Yeah... couple years ago at a high school party... I was the wrong damn girl in the wrong damn room. Woke up half dressed and in pain, didn't remember a fucking thing, still can't - which is kind of a saving grace, but also terrifying." 

Tony's face dropped, but then his eyes widened suddenly and he sat up slightly straighter. "Wait, wait, wait - that time on spring break when we woke up at that random house and you were acting kinda weird..." 

Eleanora nodded, remembering the immense relief when she found that bill in her bra, knowing that it meant it had never come off. 

"Fuck, that was so insensitive, I'm so sorry, I had no idea-" 

"It's fine, I know you had no idea, that was the whole point, that's how I wanted it to be." 

She stared down at her hands to avoid the pitying look she knew would be on his face. She didn't need his sympathy. But then he shifted forward and pulled her into a firm hug and she had the sudden urge to cry. 

"I promise I won't let anything like that happen to you again," he muttered. 

Eleanora knew that it was a promise that Tony couldn't necessarily keep no matter how much he wanted to, but she couldn't deny the sense of safety that encompassed her in his arms, particularly as she leant in slightly, a stray tear rolling down her cheek. 

As she pulled away, she turned her head away and wiped her cheek, not even sure where to begin processing the clusterfuck of emotions coursing through her. 

"Lenny... does Tucker know that you know? About... y'know." 

Eleanora shook her head, avoiding his eye. 

"Why not? You plotting some master plan to get him back? Gonna key his car?" he grinned. 

Eleanora rested her chin in her knees and closed her eyes, the admission of the truth teetering on the tip of her tongue, dangling precariously on the edge of a cliff of vulnerability. 

"...Lenny?" 

Tears burned at her eyes, but she blinked them away, took a deep breath and whispered, "I don't want to be alone." 

There was a moment of silence and Eleanora knew that Tony was judging her - which was fair enough, she was pathetic. 

"Hold up, let me get this straight - You'd... you'd rather be that cheating asshole's... mistress than _single?_ One of the things I've always admired most about you is your self-respect and now you're telling me you're willing to stay with that piece of shit so you won't be 'alone'? You won't _be_ alone. Single, yes, but not alone. Besides, you can do _way_ better that that. For starters, someone whose surname isn't a breakfast food."

"There's an 'e'," she sniffled with a small smile. "And I know it's stupid. I don't know why I... it's pathetic. _I'm_ pathetic." 

"You're not pathetic, Lenny. Fear isn't pathetic." 

Eleanora ran her hands through her hair and over her face in frustration. 

"You gotta confront him about this. You know that, right? And not when you're feeling up to, because you never will. You gotta rip it off like a bandaid." 

"A plaster," she corrected with a weak laugh. 

Tony grinned. "You know what, fine. Rip it off like a _plaster_ , and then the sooner you can get over the shitbag. But make sure you know what you want to say going in because you're easily distracted." 

"I'll write it down and tie him up and make him listen to everything I have to say." 

"Kinky- sorry, knee jerk reaction," he shook his head apologetically, causing her to snigger. "But seriously, don't let him manipulate you." 

"But he's so good at it!" she replied dryly. "Seriously though, I keep looking back on so many things and think how the hell did I not realise I was being manipulated? I'm fucking done with it. I refuse to let him try and mould me, I'm not clay." 

Tony looked at her for a moment with a small smile on his face. "I'm really proud of you, Lenny." 

A warm feeling melted over Eleanora, a heat rising in her cheeks as she wondered when the last time was that someone told her they were proud of her. 

"Give it time, I'll prove you wrong." 

At that moment, the apartment door opened and Rhodey walked in with a large paper bag and a tray of coffees. "Hey, Nora, how are you feeling?" 

"Good. Better," she nodded, standing up to help him unpack the food. 

"That's good. I hope you guys are hungry, I got a lot." 

"That's a real shame because Lenny just said she wasn't hungry so I guess-" 

"Shut up, I've changed my mind," Eleanora interrupted Tony, poking him in the ribs. "I wasn't, but then I smelt the hashbrowns." 

"Okay, okay, fair enough. You should definitely eat. You threw up, like, everything in your stomach last night." 

"That would have been a lot." 

"You were very descriptive." 

Eleanora smiled sheepishly. 

**• • •**

When Eleanora got back to her apartment, the first thing she did was hug a very stunned and very hungover Katie. She expected some kind of sarcastic comment, but instead, the girl just hugged her back tighter. 

"You alright, Nora? You had a pretty rough night." 

"Yeah, I'm okay," she sighed. "I, uh, I need to tell you something though." 

"What is it?" Katie asked with a frown. 

Eleanora sat down, took a deep breath told her everything - about the cheating, and the time he hurt her and his manipulation. 

"I'm going to kill him," she growled. "That's why you were having a meltdown on Wednesday? You totally lied to me!" 

"I did not! We hadn't broken up!" Eleanora defended. "He, uh, he actually still doesn't know that I know." 

"Why?" 

"I don't know," she groaned. "I guess I just... I need some space away from him before I confront him about it because he's so fucking manipulative and I'm..." 

"Scared," Katie finished. 

"I know it's pathetic but there's so much shit he's done that I shouldn't have forgiven but he managed to twist it in a way that I felt like I didn't really have a choice and I know this is a whole other level, but I'm still worried that he'll find a way to make me forgive him and I don't want to fucking do that." 

"That's not pathetic, Nora, that's perfectly reasonable. I think some space is a good idea so you can get your thoughts together. Just don't drag it out longer than it needs to, okay?" 

Eleanora nodded. "You're a really good friend, Katie. Thank you." 

The redhead just smiled bashfully and gave her head a small shake. 

**• • •**

While Eleanora knew that she'd have to confront Tucker at some point and knew that she'd never be ready to, Eleanora knew that today was not the day. She needed time to process and she needed time to figure out exactly what is was she wanted to say to him. 

The man had been calling her, but she had simply told him she was really unwell, and that it hurt to talk. He had offered to come over a couple times, but she quickly shot the idea down, claiming she was highly contagious and really gross, which apparently had been quite the deterrent. 

Nearly two weeks later, however, she knew she had to bite the bullet and asked to meet Tucker at a nearby park that afternoon after her classes. (Also, Tony had been repeatedly reminding her that she couldn't avoid it forever and it would be better to get it over and done with, but that was easy for him to say. Katie had a similar attitude but had been a bit less pushy about it). While she told herself the location was because it was neutral ground, she knew a part of it was because it was a public place. She really didn't like that she was reassured by the presence of other people, she knew that Tucker certainly wasn't _dangerous._ Then again, she also hadn't taken him for a cheater. It was just safer. 

"Hey, baby, you feeling better?" Tucker grinned as she approached the park bench he was sitting on. 

Eleanora didn't want him to know something was wrong straight up, she wanted to let him think everything was fine for a bit and then drop it on him suddenly, to tear the rug out from under his feet and watch him flounder. 

She smiled tightly and tensed as he stood up and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Yeah. Much better." 

"You alright, babe?" 

Okay, so maybe she wasn't that great at this. 

"Yeah, sorry, just a bit distracted with uni stuff. You wanna go for a walk?" 

Tucker and Eleanora set off slowly along the path, and she found it increasingly harder to maintain the idle small talk, the urge to lay out the truth and get out everything she wanted to say growing harder and harder to control. 

Fuck it. 

"-and I was like 'uh, no, I don't get paid to do that' and then _he_ said-" 

"Would you do anything for me?" Eleanora cut him off, watching him closely as he frowned in confusion. "Buy a big diamond ring for me?" 

"Uh, what? What are you talking about, El?" 

"Would you get down on your knee for me?" 

Tucker's eyes widened dramatically and he let out a nervous laugh. "We haven't really been dating that long, El, I don't know if-" 

"Do you love me?" 

"Of course I do! But-" 

Eleanora came to a halt and crossed her arms, her jaw tight and her expression stoic. 

"Do you love your fiancee too?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready to rumble folks. Next chapter, you finally get Eleanora yelling at Tucker like you've probably been waiting for.


	19. Blood, Guts and Angel Cake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora gets to scream at Tucker and then her friends cheer her up.

_"Do you love me?"_

_"Of course I do! But-"_

_"Do you love your fiancee too?"_

Tucker's head snapped to look at her in shock, mouth open slightly. "Wh- El, what are you talking about?" 

Eleanora almost laughed. "The lingerie, the toothbrush, the fact that you wouldn't give me a key to your place-" 

"You're being ridiculous, babe-" he tried to tell her. 

"I _saw_ you with her!" Eleanora burst out, turning a couple heads of passers by. "Walking into a fucking _wedding_ _bakery_!" 

Tucker let out a sigh and shook his head slightly, even having the audacity to laugh. "That's my _cousin_ , she's getting married and wanted my opinion." 

"Do you usually shove your tongue down your cousin's throat?" 

He pressed his lips together before opening his mouth a couple times, struggling to come up with a response. "Ellie..." 

"For once in your fucking life, tell me truth..." she began softly. "Did you actually love me or were you just using me for sex?" 

"El..." Tucker faltered, reaching an arm out towards her, however she immediately stepped back, glaring hotly at him. 

"TELL ME THE TRUTH!" 

"I loved you, El, I still do, goddammit! I admit... in the beginning it was just lust, but then something changed in me and I knew that I loved you." 

Eleanora didn't know how to feel, other than sick. On one hand, if he hadn't truly loved her the entire time while she had given him everything, that would obviously be crushing, but if he really _did_ love her, then how could have done this? The fact that he was claiming to love her while also planning his own wedding with another woman seemed to make the whole thing worse, and it made her feel nauseous. 

"And what about your fiancee? Do you love _her?"_

Tucker hung his head. "...Yes." 

"Obviously not enough to remain loyal to her," she spat. "I cannot believe this after _all the shit you gave me_ about spring break, when the whole time you were fucking _engaged_ to someone else!" 

"I was just being protective-" 

"No, you were being _possessive!_ You were being controlling and manipulative and a massive fucking hypocrite!" 

Eleanora's shouts were gaining the attention of other people in the park, and Tucker's eyes darted around nervously. 

"Come on, you don't have to make this into a big deal-" 

"Stop turning everything on me! Stop trying to manipulate me! Every time you do something wrong you twist it so that it's on _me_ , and it's _my fault_ for being hurt. You're a lying, cheating fuckhead and that is _not_ my fault! So I will make as big a deal as I fucking want, you _don't_ get to tell me how to feel about this! _You_ fucked up, not me. So don't you _dare_ try to tell me I'm overreacting. If someone tells you that you hurt them, you don't get to decide that you didn't! I'm so fucking done with this." 

Eleanora turned on her heel and started storming away. 

"Wait!" Tucker called out, making her freeze and swivel around furiously. "Can we talk later? When you've calmed down a bit." 

Eleanora blinked, blood boiling inside of her making her body tremble in rage as she stalked up to him. " _ **CALMED DOWN?**_ YOU'VE BEEN LYING TO ME EVER SINCE WE MET! _NO_ , WE CANNOT TALK! IN CASE IT WASN'T ABUNDANTLY FUCKING CLEAR, WE ARE BEYOND OVER!" 

"El," he tried, and grabbed her arm but she violently wrenched it away. 

" _Don't_ touch me!" 

Then, his tone changed. "You really wanna do this?" 

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" 

"It means that you don't have anyone else, El. If you wanna break up, _fine,_ but I hope you know that that Stark guy won't wanna put up with you for long and then who will you have? No friends, no family that want you-" 

For a fleeting moment, Eleanora froze, considering his words. However, her expression then hardened, knowing he was just trying to play on her fears, and she drew herself up to her full height and jutted her chin up as she shot him an icy look. "I'd rather have no one than have you." 

"Yeah, alright, we'll see how long that lasts before you come crawling back." 

"I actually cannot comprehend how you honestly think that I would still want you after all of this!" 

"Because I know you better than you do, El. You might not _want_ to want me, but I know you and I know that you're desperate not to be alone." 

"You know what? You're partially right, maybe I _am_ desperate to not be alone, but I would still prefer it over you, so take that as you will-" 

Tucker angrily grabbed her arm again, causing her to let out a small noise of pain, fear sparking inside her. Fortunately, the commotion had gained a number of spectators who, seeing his grip on her, immediately started stepping forward in her defence. He hastily let go and stepped back as a couple of joggers had a go at him, while a young couple gently pushed her away from him, asking if she was okay. 

Eleanora was very glad she chose to do this here. 

"I'm fine," she assured them, insides curling slightly when she looked over to see Tucker glaring at her over the shoulders of the people that blocked him. "Thank you, but I'm fine."

She was pretty sure they were asking her questions, but she wasn't really listening. She thanked them one more time before turning and walking away, feeling as though a weight had been lifted off her chest, only for a different one -heavier or lighter, she wasn't sure yet- to be put right back on. 

As she walked back in the direction of her apartment, Eleanora felt numb, like she wasn't properly in her body and her legs were just moving on their own accord. She wasn't really feeling _anything_ and she wasn't sure if it was because she'd used up her quota of emotion in the last few days and needed to wait for a refill or because there was just so much going on that her brain had decided to not process any of it. 

She felt _hollow,_ like her essence had been scooped out leaving an empty shell. And she hated that she was thinking about it but Tucker was _right._ She and Katie were friends, but they really weren't that close, she couldn't stand to be around her parents, her relationship with Serena was... incredibly complicated and Tony... 

_That Stark guy won't wanna put up with you for long._

Eleanora thought that she and Tony were good friends, but Tucker's words played over and over in her mind and, really, he had a point. How long _would_ Tony want to put up with her? She'd hardly been a good friend to him - getting too involved in his relationship, taking her anger out on him, ruining his birthday party... she'd really fucked up. 

The timing of it all really did suck because Eleanora _had_ been doing a lot better, like really good. It'd been the longest period she had gone without getting 'bad', and the last two days, she had been furiously fighting the urge to relapse, but it had been exhausting and she could feel her willpower deteriorating. 

She knew that she was about to get so much worse. 

**• • •**

"...no, no, you always do this. We always get so much food and then we eat half of it and then you insist that I take it because you won't-" 

_"I'm hungry, honey bear."_

Rhodey rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall of the payphone outside the convenience store. He was on his way back to their apartment for a movie night, but the boy always insisted on him getting snacks as if there wasn't an abundance of vending machines and places to get food on campus. "You say that every time. Reeses or Starburst, you can only pick one, I'm not getting both. Besides, when was the last time you ate a vegetable?" 

_"Actually, what about Skittles?"_

"If you don't pick something, I'm just going to skip the snacks, okay? So make a deci-" Rhodey cut himself off, staring outside the booth at a familiar figure walking along the sidewalk on the other side of the road. Her dark hair was blowing behind her in the wind, she was staring blankly ahead and it wasn't until she lifted a hand to wipe under her eyes that Rhodey realised she was crying. 

Nora?

_"Rhodey? Hellooo? You good?"_

"Sorry, I just- I just saw Nora. I'll be right back." 

_"Wait, what-?"_

Rhodey hung up and hurried out of the phone booth, dashing across the road and jogging up to Eleanora. 

"Nora! Hey, what's going on?" he asked, stopping in front of her with a frown (and damn, she did _not_ look okay). She looked strangely lifeless, like all of her energy had been sucked right out of her with a vacuum. Eleanora didn't say anything, she just looked at him for a second, her lip trembled, and then she suddenly wrapped her arms around him, a sob escaping her. "Hey, hey..." Rhodey quickly tried to soothe, reciprocating the hug. "What happened?" 

"S-sorry," she sniffled, pulling away in embarrassment. "I don't know what-" 

"Don't apologise, you're not a problem. You wanna tell me what's happening?" 

"Tucker." 

"You confronted him?"

Eleanora nodded. 

"So why the hell are _you_ the one in tears? What did he do?" 

She just shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "I don't- I don't know... I shouldn't be upset, but..." 

Rhodey nodded and pressed his lips together before placing a hand on her shoulder and starting to guide her towards where his car was parked. "Come on. I'm heading back to the apartment, I'll give you a lift." 

"It's okay, you don't have to-" 

"Come on, Nora, it's not a problem at all. Unless you'd really rather walk?" 

Eleanora bit her lip for a moment then shook her head and mumbled "thank you." The pair made their way across the road towards the car park and it wasn't until they walked past the phone booth that Rhodey remembered that he'd probably left Tony pretty confused and wondering what was happening. 

"Uh, hang on, Nora, I should call Tony back. I was talking to him on the phone and then I kinda just hung up on him." 

"No worries," she shrugged, leaning up against the wall of the phone booth as Rhodey stepped inside and punched in Tony's numbers. The phone rang a few times before he picked up. 

_"-me pick up the damn phone, this is important,"_ he was saying, clearly not to Rhodey. 

"Hey man-" 

_"What the fuck was that? Don't ever hang up on me like that again. What hap-"_ his voice turned distant again. " _Can you shut up for minute? Yes, I'm serious, just give me two fucking minutes, Jesus."_ He coughed and resume talking to Rhodey. _"Sorry, platypus. What happened?"_

"I saw Nora walking past in tears, she said she confronted Tucker about his fiancee." 

_"Why was she in tears? What the fuck did he do?"_

"Yeah, that's what I said, but she didn't really give me a straight answer so I'm not sure. I'm giving her a lift back now." 

_"Bring her back here. If she wants to, I mean. She might-_ " he cut himself off with a sigh, and Rhodey could vaguely hear a shrill voice talking. _"Yeah. I'm trying to talk to Rhodey, okay? Just let me finish my fucking conversation and then we can argue about it."_

Rhodey raised his eyebrows. "Is that Maddie?" 

_"Mhm."_

"I thought she dumped you," he said in confusion. 

_"Yeah, me too,"_ Tony muttered. _"Don't worry, she'll be gone by the time you get back. Anyway, I'll see you soon. Love you, bye."_

"Love you too... and good luck." 

He heard Tony snigger as the call ended, and stepped out of the booth, mildly alarmed at how put together Eleanora looked considering her state only a few minutes ago. 

"You ready to go?" 

She nodded and they got into his car. 

"You wanna come back to our place?" Rhodey offered casually. "We're gonna have a movie night." 

"It's a Thursday."

"Yeah, your point?" 

She laughed and shook her head. "No, that's okay, I'll just-" 

"Are you saying that because you don't want to or because you don't want to impose? Because... it's really rough what you're going through and I get it if you wanna be alone but we also wanna make sure you're as okay as you can be right now and often the best way to feel better is by hanging out with your friends." 

"What kind of movies?" Eleanora asked after a moment. 

Rhodey grinned. "Whatever you want. Well, whatever's at Blockbuster anyway. We can pick out some movies later and then go grab some dinner to take home. Sound good?" 

A small smile grew on her face. "Yeah, okay." 

**• • •**

When Rhodey and Eleanora stepped out of the elevator onto the floor of their apartment, Rhodey heard the slam of a door down the corridor and caught sight of Maddie storming down the hallway, her eyes blazing with anger when they landed on Eleanora.

"Fuck."

"You bitch!" Maddie seethed as she approached, causing Eleanora to just cross her arms and look at her irritatedly. Rhodey smirked at her indifference. "I hope you're happy, fucking ruining our relationship!"

The redhead went to furiously lunge at Eleanora, grabbing at her shirt, but Rhodey quickly stepped held an arm out, pushing Maddie back with a scowl. "Hey, what the fuck? Get out of here."

"She made Tony break up with me! She-"

"That is _not_ what happened," Rhodey cut her off firmly, glancing over at Eleanora's bewildered expression. He suspected she didn't know they had broken up in the first place. "Tony told me what happened and if you think I'm going to trust your fake ass over my best friend, you're even dumber than I thought. This has nothing to do with Nora. Now get the fuck out before I call security."

Maddie's face twisted in fury, but she stalked past them without a word, jabbing the button for the elevator with unnecessary force.

"Yeesh," Eleanora said nonchalantly. "I could have taken her, though, you know."

"Trust me, I know," he grinned. "I was taking pity on her."

When Rhodey unlocked the door and walked inside, Tony's face relaxed in obvious relief.

"What just happened? Because we just ran into Maddie and she was... not happy."

Eleanora snorted in agreement, and Tony smiled when he saw her.

"Uh, don't worry about it. Are you okay, Lenny? What happened with Oatmeal?"

She let out a slight laugh as she dropped onto the sofa, Tony sitting beside her and Rhodey sitting on the armchair opposite. Her expression dropped slightly and she anxiously twirled her hair around her finger. "Um, I can't really remember most of it, to be honest, it was an angry blur. Basically, I told him I knew about his fiancee and he did that whole 'I don't know what you're talking about' thing so I told him I saw them together in a wedding bakery and he had the fucking nerve to say it was his cousin getting married. So I asked if he usually shoves his tongue down his cousin's throat-"

Her voice cracked slightly, barely noticeable, and Rhodey could tell that her cool exterior was faltering.

"-which he didn't seem to know how to respond to. And then... the rest is kind of fuzzy, but... it's over."

Sure enough, her eyes had started to pool with tears and she wiped them away frustratedly, only to start crying harder. Tony glanced anxiously at Rhodey, who gave an equally uncertain shrug.

"And it's stupid that I'm crying because he was an absolute wanker. He was manipulative and made me feel shitty and he literally fucking _bruised_ me and I _shouldn't_ be upset that it's over. I guess it's just... there were a lot of really good times, but he's still a shitty person, you know?"

"It's not stupid, Nora, it's perfectly normal," Rhodey told her quietly. "You miss the memories of him, but not Tucker himself."

Eleanora took a deep breath and, with astounding poise, wiped away her tears and composed herself. It was honestly unnerving how quickly she could make it look like she hadn't just been crying a few moments ago.

"I'm okay," she nodded firmly. "Do you wanna share why Maddie came storming and tried to rip my throat out."

"Wait, she had a go at you?" Tony scowled.

"She means that literally, by the way" Rhodey chipped in. "I had to actually hold her back from physically attacking her."

His jaw tightened and he shook his head. "I can't believe she had the audacity to think we were okay after the ultimatum she gave me at my party."

"What ultimatum?" Eleanora asked in confusion, tucking her knees underneath her.

"She was throwing a tantrum about how I wasn't spending time with her at the party, despite seeing that you were..." Tony paused, "unwell. And then when I went to get you another glass of water she said it was you or her and that if I went back in the bathroom it was over. So I told her to grow up because that's a really shitty thing to do. You obviously needed help and she was more than happy flirting with everything that moved, but she kept acting like she's the centre of my fucking universe."

"I'm sorry."

Both Rhodey and Tony looked at Eleanora in confusion.

"What the hell have _you_ got to be sorry for?" 

"For ruining your relationship. First Tucker and... whatever her name is, and now you and Maddie. I'm a fucking homewrecker."

"Woah, hold up," he argued. "Tucker's relationship was ruined when he decided to cheat, which you had no idea about. Nothing about that is your fault at all, he's the one that fucked everything over. And Maddie and I were never gonna work, I knew that. I didn't realise she was such a bitch though, which - again- is not your fault. If anything, I should thank you, I'm actually pretty relieved now. You even warned me about her, so none of this was your fault either."

Eleanora nodded, but she still looked a little doubtful.

"I never liked her," Rhodey spoke up.

"Yeah both of you made it kinda clear, actually. So did Katie."

"Maybe you should listen to us next time."

"Probably," Tony laughed. "Shall we go get some movies and dinner then? I'm feeling pizza but I'm open to suggestions. Lenny?"

She shrugged. "Pizza's fine."

"'Fine' isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, what would you prefer?"

"I really don't mind, I'm not that hungry."

"Yeah, that won't fly," Rhodey shook his head. "What about Chinese? Or Indian?"

"I honestly don't mind," she insisted.

"Alright, well we'll just get a bit of everything and you can help yourself to whatever you want."

"That's really not necessary-"

"Also what kind of movies do you want to watch? And don't say 'I don't mind' - if you do, I'll throw you out the window."

Eleanora burst into laughter. "You definitely could not do that."

"Don't challenge me."

"Okay, now I'm just getting flashbacks to that time you shoved me into the sand at San Gregorio beach."

"Mm, yeah, don't recall."

"I recall," Rhodey piped up, defending Eleanora.

"Don't throw me under the bus, Sour Patch!"

"Hey, don't blame me, man."

" _Anyway_ ," Eleanora spoke before Tony could retort. "To answer your question, I think I could really go a comedy. Like Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

"Great movie," Rhodey approved. "What about that one that came out last year? Planes, Trains and Automobiles? That looks pretty funny."

"Alright cool, so let's head to Blockbuster first, grab some movies and some snacks and then we'll drive around and get dinner. Sound like a plan?"


	20. Before He Cheats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora does some reflecting and forms a plan.

Eleanora stirred awake, eyes opening blearily and glancing around the dark room. The television screen was black, but still emitting a green glow. She could make out Rhodey's form curled up against the arm of the couch to her right, meanwhile Tony was slumped against her left side, head resting on her shoulder and letting out quiet snores.

She smiled slightly to herself, let out a content sigh and rested her head against Tony's again. He made an indistinguishable noise, and then moved slightly, slinging his arm across her stomach. Shifting slightly so she was more comfortable, her eyes fluttered shut as a warmth bloomed in her chest.

**• • •**

A sudden jolt woke Eleanora the second time, and the first thing she noticed was how she was now the one resting against Tony. The second things she noticed was his wide-eyed, unsettled expression, pupils darting around as if figuring out where he was.

She hastily sat up and scooted away from him slightly as she asked, "You okay?"

"Huh?" he blinked, glancing across at her. "Oh, yeah. Just... I was about to die in my dream, that was... super weird."

"Sorry to inform you that you're still alive," she smiled wryly, quietening her voice when Rhodey stirred in his sleep.

Tony matched her volume. "I'm going to be honest, a small part of me thought Maddie was going to kill me yesterday."

"You didn't tell me that you guys even fought at the party."

He shrugged. "Didn't seem that important, I guess. I kind of forgot about it, actually."

"I still can't believe she did that," Eleanora shook her head. "Well... actually, I _can_. But that's so fucked up, and you _can_ feel sad about it, you know? I know I've got no right to be mad, but you can do better than that. Like _way_ better."

He gave a small smile and let out a sigh, "Thanks. You really were right about her not being a pleasant person. I didn't love her, but... it was still nice, you know? Having that."

Eleanora nodded, smiling sympathetically. "Welcome to the Lonely Hearts Club."

"How are _you_ feeling after everything?"

She mulled over the question for a few moments, thinking about Rhodey's comment the previous night about missing the memories as opposed to Tucker himself. He was right. She was hanging on to all the positive memories, like their first date, awkward but cute and sweet, their first kiss, their nights in when they'd make dinner together, late nights in the pool. She couldn't let go of all the good little moments when he'd been an incredibly sweet boyfriend because she didn't _want_ to think about what a shit person he really was, didn't want to think that she had been fooled, didn't want to think about him with his fiancee. She didn't want to be the second choice.

"Let me put it this way. It almost feels like a joke to play out a part when you are not the starring role in someone else's heart."

Tony ran his tongue over his teeth and shook his head. "That guy's heart isn't worthy of you in any capacity."

"I hate him so much and yet I'm still _sad_ and I actually miss being with him and I fucking hate that. I thought after finding out something like that, that it'd be easy to get rid of my feelings for him but it's- it's like a stain. I don't get why it's so hard to stop loving him when he did something like that, you know? I thought I cut him at the root but... he keeps growing back like weeds."

"Weeds, you say?" he asked, cocking his head slightly. "I think we can deal with that." 

**• • •**

"Round-Up for lawns... ready-to-spray... kills weeds not the lawn," Eleanora read off the label of the spray bottle Tony had just put down in front of her when they met up for lunch that afternoon.

"Well, there was one that said it killed weeds _and_ lawn, but if, in this analogy- metaphor? I still don't get the difference," Tony shook his head. "If you're the lawn, we wouldn't wanna kill you too. Just gotta eliminate the problem." 

"Fair point," she nodded before unscrewing the spray gun lid and moving the bottle towards her lips. 

Tony's eyes widened in panic and he let out a strangled noise. "Lenny!" 

Eleanora sniggered, screwing the lid back on and pushing the bottle away from her. She grinned at his expression, throwing her hands up slightly, "I was kidding!" 

"God, you terrify me sometimes." She just let out a little cackle causing him to let out a breath and roll his eyes. "No, but for real, we should slash his tires." 

"Nah," she shook her head. "He'll get what he deserves." 

"You really believe that?" 

"I have to." 

**• • •**

"Are you going to tell the fiancee?" 

Eleanora glanced up at Tony, who was trying to climb the tree beside her. They both had a class at that moment, but were instead opting to ditch their respective classes to relax on the campus. She leant back on the grass, arms splayed behind her and her legs stretched out in front of her, contemplating his question.

"I don't want to," she admitted with a sigh, "but I kind of feel obligated to. He's definitely not going to and... she cannot marry that. I..." she glanced down at her lap, biting the inside of her cheek. "I would have wanted to be told if someone knew." 

"Do you even know where to find her?" 

"No... I hadn't thought about that. Shit." 

"You don't have any idea about where she works or lives?" 

"No, I only got a brief..." she trailed off abruptly and sat up straighter.

"What?" Tony frowned, shifting his position on the branch he was on.

"Oh my god. Oh my god!" 

"What?" 

"I- I didn't go to his house that often, he would insist on saving me the travel and coming to my place instead and he always avoided giving me the key to his place. She... she fucking lives there. I mean, it makes sense, they're _engaged._ I- we- in _their bed -_ how could I be so stupid?!" Her mind was racing, eyes furrowed as she unraveled her thoughts. "But... there were some nights I stayed over so maybe she has some kind of night shift job? But I was there for a while and he never rushed me out of the door. Maybe she was away? But she must have been away fairly often then... Fuck, I don't know." Eleanora groaned and slumped back onto the grass, the heels of her palms rubbing at her eyes. "I can't go to his- _their_ place though, because I don't know when she'll be there and he won't. I need to find out where else I can find her."

"We'll figure it out," Tony assured her, and suddenly she sat up again, looking up at him with an irritated expression.

"I think I know how I can." 

"You don't look very happy about it." 

"Not particularly." 

**• • •**

_"Babe?"_

Eleanora felt bile rise the back of her throat and she had the urge to slam the phone back onto the hook. How could Tucker answer the call as if nothing had happened? She closed her eyes for a moment, but when she opened them, Tony gave her an encouraging nod from his seat across from her on the sofa. She gave him a small smile before letting out a pathetic sniffle. 

_"El? Baby, you ok? I gotta say, I didn't think I'd be hearing from you so soon-"_

"You're right," she interrupted brokenly. "I'm sorry, you're right." 

_"About?"_

"Everything! I-I don't have anyone else but you!" 

Tony pulled a face. 

_"I'm sorry,_ Tucker sighed. _"You know I didn't **want** to be right about that Tony guy."_

"Well, you were," she breathed. "He said I was- was super annoying and he never really liked me... just felt bad." 

Tony's eyebrows furrowed, looking at her in angry confusion. She just shook her head. 

_"I love you, El, I do. We can still work if you want, okay? We've just gotta be vigilant about Hannah."_

"Hannah?" 

Tucker coughed, " _My, uh, fiancee."_

"I don't know yet," Eleanora replied anxiously. "Can we- can we talk somewhere? I just... it's a lot to think about." 

_"I know, I know,"_ he soothed. _"You wanna come to my place or do you want me to come to yours?"_

"Can we meet somewhere? At the park, maybe?" 

_"You're not gonna send another group of strangers at me again, are you?"_ he joked. 

Eleanora couldn't stop herself. "I didn't have anything to do with that, they saw you were hurting me and intervened, that was on you!" 

Tony stared at her, eyes flashing with fury and she realised her mistake but she didn't have long to linger on it because Tucker's tone suddenly darkened. 

_"I don't have to give you a second chance, El."_

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologised, making her voice weak and quiet again. Give _her_ a second chance?! She wanted to crush the phone in her hand, but instead she sniffled again, "I'm just..." 

_"Hey, it's okay, I get it. Tomorrow at eleven?"_

"Yeah, okay." 

_"Okay, babe. I'll see you then. Love you."_

Eleanora hesitated, then hung up the phone. 

"He hurt you again?!" Tony immediately demanded, and it was in that moment that she realised she must have let slip about the _first_ time Tucker had hurt her when she was throwing her guts up at his birthday party. And now she had just accidentally told him about the second time.

"Barely," she brushed it off. "It was an accident again. I think." She paused. "I don't actually know anymore, yikes." 

"Lenny..." 

"Don't look at me like that, I'm fine! I just have to go there, pretend I want him back-" she gagged dramatically "-and get info about his fiancee. I know her name is Hannah now, so that's a start." 

"Alright... also who the hell said you were annoying?" 

"No one, but now Tucker thinks _you_ did." 

His eyes narrowed, "Wait, so when you said he was _right...?"_

"He said you, uh... 'wouldn't want to put up with me for long'," she answered. "He was just trying to play on my fears, trying to put me on a leash. He told me I'd go crawling back to him because I didn't have anyone else, which is why that was so easy for him to believe and also why telling him that made me want to puke." 

"Lenny, I don't even know what to say," Tony shook his head. "I just keep learning more about this jackass and I- I don't know _what_ you were thinking. _Honestly_. I mean... I respect you a lot, but I also think he must give off some kind of waves that render you really fucking stupid when you're around him because I can't think of any other explanation." 

And to be honest, Tony was kind of right. She _did_ lose all fucking sense around him, except it wasn't due to some kind of frequency he was giving off, it was just months of emotional manipulation that had turned her into putty in his hands. 

"Yeah, that's a fair deduction," she shrugged. 

"You know- you know that definitely won't happen, right? Just... for the record. I don't 'put up with you', Lenny, you're my closest friend besides Rhodey. Hell, I'm surprised you're putting up with _me_." 

Eleanora thought she had a fairly good understanding of Tony by this point, but there was a sincere insecurity in his voice that she knew he probably hadn't meant to convey, one she hadn't been expecting. Instead of replying with some quip, she gave him a small smile. "You're basically the only person in my life who _isn't_ trying to control me, who's _honest_ with me and who acts like they _actually_ give a shit." 

"Oh," he blinked. "That's... that's nice. But that's also not a very high bar, Lenny." 

"True," she tilted her head in agreement. "And yet..." 

"So, tomorrow at eleven? I'll be there in disguise." 

Eleanora rolled her eyes. "Tony, you really don't have to do that." 

"Lenny, knowing the shit I know about that guy, I'm definitely _not_ sitting and waiting while you get information out of your aggressive jackass ex who will _definitely_ get pissed off when he finds out _why_." 

"I appreciate your concern but he's really not that dangerous." 

"You literally said that people had to intervene." 

"No, I said they _did,_ not that they _had_ _to_." 

"Stop being stubborn!" he groaned. "I know you can handle yourself, but you don't need to. And frankly, whether you like it or not, I'm coming. So there." 

Eleanora grinned and shook her head slightly. "And you call _me_ stubborn." 

**• • •**

"Stop complaining, you're the one that insisted on coming." 

"I didn't realise it would be so itchy!" 

"Then take the fucking wig off and just wear the hat!"

"The hat doesn't cover all my hair, which is much more luscious than the average person and might draw attention to me." 

Eleanora snorted and shook her head. "You're ridiculous. And don't flatter yourself, your hair isn't that luscious." 

Tony's jaw dropped, and he poked her harshly on the shoulder. "You take that back!" 

She just rolled her eyes, before nervously glancing around the park. 

"You'll be fine," he told her. "And if it all turns to shit I can beat it out of him." 

"Let's not do that. I've got this, I just need to suck up to him long enough to get some answers and then I can tell him to go fuck himself." 

"If you're struggling to stay calm, just imagine you're strangling him to death." 

"Thanks," she replied dryly. "He'll be here any second, keep your distance, okay? Don't do anything stupid. I appreciate your concern, but it isn't necessary." 

Tony pressed his lips together. "We'll see." 

A few minutes later, Tony gave Eleanora a thumbs up from his position at a bench across the other side of the small park, an open newspaper in front of him. Just as she was about to playfully flip him the bird, she spotted Tucker walking towards her. Immediately, her heart started racing and her insides twisted. There was a dull ache in her heart when he smiled at her, and she couldn't believe that she still fucking _missed_ him after everything. 

"Hey," he said softly, coming to stand in front of her, a hand reaching out to touch her arm. 

Eleanora wanted to step back, to smack his arm away, but she also found herself wanting to lean forward slightly, ever so slightly craving his touch and it was making her dizzy. 

She met his eye and forced a smile. 

"Hey."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora V Tucker part 2 coming up nextttttt hehe


	21. The Last Laugh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora V Tucker part 2 and confronting the fiancee.

"How are you feeling?" 

Eleanora wanted to laugh. The fucking audacity. 

"I'm okay," she said instead, sitting on the bench with her legs crossed, hands in her lap. "I guess I just... want to understand." 

Tucker gave a slow nod and let out a breath. "You know I never meant to hurt you, right? I fucked up... a lot. I don't want to lose you but I also can't lose Hannah." 

Eleanora knew she would have to be subtle about this, she couldn't start by asking where she worked, that'd be really weird. "How long have you two been together?" 

Tucker gave her a weird look. "You, uh, really wanna know about her?" 

"I need to understand," she responded, looking at him pleadingly and letting tears burn at her eyes. "I need to understand _why_. It's... it's a lot, but maybe if I just understood where you were coming from then it would be easier." 

His expression softened and he placed his hand over hers, thumb brushing over her skin. Before she realised what she was doing, she'd turned it over and intertwined their fingers, holding his hand in her lap. 

_What the fuck._

Bile rose in her throat as he shifted closer to her, but it would be weird to let go of his hand after that and now she was stuck like this. However, then she inhaled the scent of his cologne and felt a faint pull towards him again. It was like she was being torn in two, two diametrically opposed forces pulling her in different directions making it feel as though she was about to implode into herself like a star undergoing gravitational collapse. 

"We've been together for about four years," Tucker began to explain, oblivious to the hurricane inside her. "It was great at first, but then a couple years back she got a job as a personal assistant for the CEO of some big pharmaceutical company in the city and it's an amazing job, but she has to follow the woman around everywhere, meaning she's away quite a lot. It just... it got pretty lonely, I guess." 

Eleanora nodded slowly, trying to look sympathetic. 

"That's why I needed you... I was alone, longing for comfort and affection, and then I met you and you were.... everything I needed. You still are." 

She tensed when he lifted his hand to brush her hair behind her ear, once again torn between repulsion and the temptation to lean into it. Why was this so fucking hard? He had turned her heart into putty then ripped it into pieces and yet she _still_ couldn't cut him off. He was a stain, and it seemed no matter how much she scrubbed and scrubbed, there was no getting rid of it. 

Would it feel like this forever? 

"If this is going to work, you need to be really honest with me," Eleanora said firmly, and Tucker smiled softly at her, nodding his head. She was almost there, just one little piece of information and she could get away from this. "Where does Hannah work? Because if you want to keep this-" she gestured between them "-a secret, I need to know where she'll be." 

"Nektar Therapeutics, it's based in San Fran." 

Eleanora pulled her hand away and tilted her head slightly. "I can't fucking believe you." 

Tucker's face dropped in confusion, eyebrows furrowed, "El?" 

"You really thought that after everything that you did to me that I'd really come back to you? After the lying, the cheating, the manipulation, _the bruises_ , you really thought that I'd prefer that over being single?" 

The expression on his face was fucking _priceless._ "Wait, _what_?"

"You actually think that I would settle for being your secret side bitch when I can do _astronomically_ better than you? I loved you, Tucker, but you- you treated me like shit and I deserve- and always _have_ deserved far better. And I would rather shit in my hands and clap than to even entertain the idea of getting back with you." 

His expression darkened, eyes flashing with anger. "What the fuck was this all about then, El? The phone call and pretending you wanted to get back together. What was the point?" 

Eleanora stood up and looked down at him with a smile. "Because _no one_ should have to put up with your bullshit." 

Tucker seemed to quickly grasp the threat and stood up, taking a threatening step towards her. "Don't you fucking dare. We're happy, okay? We're getting married, you really wanna fuck up her life?" 

"I didn't fuck it up, Tucker, _you_ did. When you cheated on her, remember? And she deserves to know that whatever persona you've put on that she _thinks_ she's marrying is all a lie and that you're actually a massive fuckstain. Whatever consequences that arise are completely on you and you alone." 

"It's a bit hypocritical don't you think?" he argued, "to judge me for lying when you everything you've said to me since you called is a lie?" 

Eleanora actually laughed. "Are you serious? You think that making you believe I wanted to get back together for a while just so I could find out where to contact the fiancee that you've been cheating on for nearly a year is any way comparable to all the shit you've pulled? Have I not made it abundantly clear that you can't manipulate me anymore? Stop trying, because you're just making a fool out of yourself." 

"I don't get why you think it's such a smart idea to talk to me like that when you don't have anyone," he seethed. 

"See, as you just pointed out, everything I said to you since I called you is a lie," she began calmly, "which _includes_ what I said about Tony because he's _not_ a piece of shit and is actually a really good friend, as are Rhodey and Katie. So no, I'm not alone. I _don't_ need you and I never have." 

He took another menacing step towards her, expression furious, however, just as he opened his mouth, Eleanora jabbed him harshly in the throat with the inside of her thumb and index finger. He recoiled, coughing and rubbing his throat as he glared at her. 

"Bye, Tucker." 

And with that, she walked away. 

"That was amazing," Tony grinned as she walked up to him, feeling lighter than she'd felt in a long time. "And really convincing - I don't know how you managed to put up with him even touching you." 

Eleanora hadn't realised how much energy it had taken to keep up the facade around Tucker until she had walked away and felt drained all of a sudden. Between feeling furious at him for everything he had done, disgusted at herself for still missing him, anxious about standing up for herself, and then immensely relieved at finally saying what she needed to and letting go of him, she just felt like she wanted to cry. 

"I was getting a bit uneasy when he got all up in your face and then you just-" He mimicked her hitting Tucker in the throat "-it was..." he trailed off when Eleanora wrapped her arms around him. "It was awesome, Lenny," he continued, hugging her back. "You okay?" 

"I don't know," she answered honestly, drawing away. "I feel really relieved... lighter. It's just... a bit weird, I guess. Also, I have a feeling he'll warn Hannah in advance and make me sound like some crazy ex that's just trying to ruin his life." 

"It's not your job to make her believe you. Hell, think about what you just put yourself through just so you could tell her in the first place. You could have just hoped for the best, but instead you insisted on warning her because you're a really good person. There's only so much you can do." 

"I suppose." 

Tony pulled off his hat and wig, causing her to burst into giggles at the state of his hair. His jaw dropped slightly at her laugh and he hastily ruffled his hands through it in an attempt to fluff it back up. "I'm never doing disguises ever again," he huffed dramatically. "What do you wanna do now?" 

Eleanora let out a sigh. "I'm going to find Hannah." 

"You sure you're up for that, Lenny?" Tony asked with a frown. 

"I don't think I ever will be, but I'd rather just get it over and done with so I don't have to think about him ever again." 

"Okay," he nodded. "You want backup?" 

She shook her head. "I'll be fine. I'll catch you later." 

The receptionist at Nektar Therapeutics was a little confused when Eleanora introduced herself and asked to speak with the CEO's personal assistant and not the CEO herself, but called Hannah anyway to let her know. 

"What is this regarding?" the receptionist - Louise - asked her, holding her hand over the microphone of the telephone. 

"Um, personal business. About her fiance." 

"Uh, okay." Louise relayed the information to Hannah, then proceeded to nod a few times. "Yep, okay, I'll let her know. She's about to go on her lunch break," she told Eleanora after hanging up. "She said to wait here." 

Eleanora smiled sincerely at her. "Thank you!" 

About ten minutes later, a young blonde-haired women with shoulder-length hair walked out of the elevator, scanning the lobby until her eyes landed on Eleanora. She was definitely the one she had seen with Tucker when she first made the discovery that he was cheating. "Eleanora, is it?" she asked. "Let's walk, I need to grab a coffee." 

Eleanora nodded and started walking beside, suddenly realising she didn't have a plan as to how to approach this. 

"So what is this personal business about my fiance that you need to talk about?" Hannah asked when she didn't say anything. 

"He's cheating on you," she blurted out, causing the woman to stop and stare at her. "Well, he _was_ cheating on you. Tucker and I were dating for about eleven months... our anniversary would have been next month but then I found out he was fucking engaged and broke up with him. I swear, I didn't know, I wouldn't have given him a second look if I knew he wasn't single, I'm not that kind of person." 

Hannah's expression turned cold. "Do you think this is funny or something?" 

"W-what?" 

"I don't know who you think you are, but Tucker and I are perfectly happy and if you think I'm going to let some jealous ex of his come between us, you're very wrong." 

"No, Hannah, this isn't- I only broke up with him a few days ago. We started dating back in June last year, and I had no idea he had a fiancee. He's been cheating on you this whole time." 

"Tucker isn't like that," she rolled her eyes. 

"Let me guess, he told you he was at the dentist this morning?" 

Hannah stared at her. 

"Well, he wasn't. He was with me. And that's the same excuse he told me when he was with you. Look, I literally just came from meeting up with him. I was pretending to want to get back with him so I could find out where you work so that I could warn you about him." 

The woman raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms. "Why would you go to so much trouble to find me?" 

"Because no one should have to put up with his shit!" 

"So you did all that just because you _felt bad?_ " 

"Yes!" she insisted exasperatedly. "Because it fucking sucks to be cheated on and I figured that if I could warn you before it was too late, then I should." 

"How noble of you," Hannah remarked sarcastically. 

Eleanora was getting impatient. "What reason would I have to lie to you?" 

"You want to punish Tucker?" 

"Well, obviously I do, he's a cheating scumbag. But that's irrelevant. That's not why I'm here. I'm here because I didn't want you to marry that fuckhead when he _cheated on you_. For basically a _fucking year!_ "

"How about you butt out of our business? I don't know what happened between you two that makes you feel the need to ruin a perfectly good relationship, and I also don't care. We're happy. Lying won't get you anywhere." 

"I just fucking _told you_ what happened between us." 

"And _I_ told _you_ that I don't fucking believe you and trying to ruin his happiness just because of something that happened years ago is petty and immature. So stop acting like you're such a noble person for tracing me down to 'warn me about him' because I can see straight through you. You're just some bitch that doesn't have anyone to love you and you think it'll make you feel better by ruining someone else's happiness." 

Eleanora took a deep breath, resisting the urge to lash out. "Just because you're not the kind of person to do that, doesn't mean that no one else would. And frankly, I don't care if you believe me. That's not my problem. I just hope for your sake that you realise what kind of a person he really is. I get it, I was in denial at first too. But eventually you won't be able to ignore it anymore and I suggest you get away as soon as possible." 

"Just give up, already," Hannah sighed. 

"Let me just ask you one thing - has he ever hurt you? Not necessarily intentionally, just getting a bit carried away when he's angry?" 

Hannah looked at her for a moment with an unreadable expression but didn't say anything. 

"Just think about it," Eleanora told her, before walking off. 

"The deed is done," Eleanora sighed dramatically as she walked into Tony and Rhodey's apartment. 

"You realise that makes it sound like you killed her, right?" 

"I didn't," she grinned, falling down into an armchair. "Thought about it though." 

"Why? What happened?" 

"She didn't exactly believed me. And look, I get it, but I think that calling me immature, petty and jealous and saying that I'm some bitch that has no one to love me and so I think it'll make me feel better to ruin other people's happiness was a bit much." 

Tony gaped. "You're kidding me." 

"Apparently they're happy and she doesn't know why I feel the need to ruin a _perfectly good relationship,_ " Eleanora rolled her eyes. 

"A perfectly good relationship in which he cheats on her for what, a year? Sounds like happiness to me," he remarked sarcastically, shaking his head. "She can fuck off. Maybe they deserve each other." 

"She's just upset," she sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. 

"That doesn't mean she can say any of that." 

Eleanora tilted her head in consideration. "You can't tell me you haven't ever said or done something you regret purely out of rage or shock and not the truth. I'm not saying it's right, but it's understandable." 

"You forgive people too easily." 

Her lips tugged upwards slightly. "Not cheaters." 

"Well, I'm glad to hear _that._ We've got leftover Thai in the fridge, you want some?" 

"Uh, no thanks, I'm not hungry." 

"You haven't eaten since this morning," he frowned, walking over to the fridge. "Assuming you had breakfast, anyway. Besides, since when is 'not hungry' a reason not to eat?" 

"Tony, I'm fine, really. I don't want any," she insisted, feeling the anxiety stir inside her, like the wind beginning to pick up before a storm. 

"C'mon, it's gotta get eaten soon or it'll just go to waste." 

"I just don't feel like eating." 

"There's Thai red curry there, you love that, don't you?" 

"Why are you being so pushy about this?" she finally snapped. "I said I'm not hungry, why are you trying to force me to eat?!" 

Tony paused, turning to look at her with a guilty, but confused expression. "Sorry, Lenny, I didn't mean to be. I just thought you might need some cheering up after... all of that." 

"I appreciate that, but if I say 'no', I mean 'no'!" 

He just looked more guilty and more confused and took a tentative step forwards. "Lenny, what's..." 

The twisting anxiety in her gut grew, panic setting in. Her fight or flight response was kicking in but she definitely didn't want to fight Tony, so she did the next best thing. 

"I need- I need to go," Eleanora breathed, uncomfortably aware of the kicked-puppy look on Tony's face. 

"Lenny-" 

"I'm sorry, I just- I can't- I thought I was- I'm trying to-" 

" _Lenny._ " 

Eleanora just shook her head and left the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *laughs nervously*


	22. Shaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora goes to apologise but it doesn't go to plan.

Eleanora knew she had fucked up. Like... really fucked up. 

Tony had done so much for her and she had just snapped at him for no reason. At least, to Tony there was no reason. But she hadn't seen another way out - despite his good intentions, his words were making her agitated and anxious and she hadn't meant to snap at him at all, but her panic and frustration had gotten the best of her. And this wasn't even the first time it had happened. 

"How did it go?" Katie asked when Eleanora walked into their apartment. "What's wrong?" 

"I fucked up," she groaned. 

"How so?" 

"I don't know what's wrong with me." 

"Well, how about you tell me what happened and I can tell you." 

"All the shit with Tucker and Hannah went as well as it could have gone in the scheme of things. But I was just at Tony's place and he offered me leftover Thai food and I said no but he was being rally insistent about it and I just _snapped_ and walked out and I don't know why." 

"Nora, you put yourself through a lot today," Katie sympathised, placing a hand on Eleanora's knee. "I'm sure it's just the emotional toll of it all. I'm not saying it's right that you snapped, but it's understandable. You just gotta communicate, tell him the truth. And apologise. He'll get it." 

Would he though? There was only so much a person could put up with. 

"Look, you feel bad, don't you?" she asked. Eleanora nodded. "And you want to apologise and smooth things over?" She nodded again. "Then go fucking do it, you pussy. Stop wallowing in self-pity, go back over there and _talk_ to him." 

Katie stared at her in determination for a moment until Eleanora nodded once more, "you're right." 

"Oh, thank God, I was worried I was taking the tough love thing a little too far for a second." 

Eleanora grinned and shrugged. "Well, you didn't make me cry so..."

**• • •**

When she knocked on Tony's door twenty minutes later, she half-expected him to not open it. However, to her surprise, he opened it promptly and looked at her with a tired but concerned expression before opening it wider, inviting her in. 

"Tell me what's going on," he pleaded quietly. "Last time you blew up at me it was because you were hiding the fact that Tucker was cheating on you so please just tell me what's going on." 

"I'm really sorry, Tony. I really overreacted and I shouldn't have walked out like that. And I'm so sorry that this keeps happening. I'm a shitty person and a shitty friend and I'd understand if you don't want to talk to me again." 

"That's not what I asked, Lenny. I know you're sorry, I know that that wasn't _you_. And you were right anyway, I shouldn't have been so pushy, I have a habit of it and I'm trying to stop. But you're clearly going through something and, as your friend, I'd really appreciate it if you told me what so that I could help you. I'm not mad, I'm just worried." 

Eleanora knew, deep down, that she should tell someone. That she had a problem. But she was so ashamed and afraid of what he would think of her that her tongue suddenly felt like lead. She shook her head. "I can't." 

"Why not?" 

She shook her head again, a thick lump developing in her throat. 

Tony stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. "Lenny, c'mon. Whatever it is, I'm not gonna judge or- or think any less of you." 

"You don't know that." 

"Well, I would if you told me," he replied with a small smile. 

Eleanora let out a heavy sigh, the weight of it all filling her being and pressing against her chest. She knew it was time. It would be so easy to blurt it out, to rip it off like plaster, but she wanted him to understand. She pulled away from him, letting Tony's hands fall to his sides, and walked over to the window before taking a deep breath. 

"I, um... I've always had issues surrounding the idea of perfection and trying to _be_ perfect. It's... it's more of an obsession, really." 

"Okay..." Tony nodded slowly, looking at her intently. A crease formed between his eyebrows and he looked unsure as to whether to move closer or keep his distance. 

"I can't even really remember how or when it started. It felt harmless at first... it wasn't, but it felt that way. And then somehow it kinda ended up taking over my whole life." 

"What... what are you talking about, Lenny? What took over your life?" 

Eleanora drew in another deep breath and stared out of the window. "Um, ok, well, I've never really been particularly-" she cut herself off abruptly, frowning in confusion at what sounded like thunder in the distance. Tony glanced around the apartment warily. The sound got louder, seemingly coming nearer as though a large train was approaching right outside the building.

"Was there meant to be- _shit_ ," he hissed as the ground began trembling. It started as a slight tremor, but quickly grew in intensity until the floor was shaking rapidly, as though filled with rage. 

Just as Eleanora started to stumble away from the window, the glass cracked. She threw her arms up to shield her face and hastily scrambled backwards, vaguely aware of Tony shouting something over the thunderous rumbling. Her head snapped in his direction, relieved to see that he was okay, moving on his hands and knees in her direction. She crawled shakily towards him as he gestured to the dining table and reached a hand out to grab her arm when she was close enough and tug her lightly towards the shelter. 

"You okay?" he asked breathlessly once they were underneath, still holding onto her arm. 

"Fine. You?" 

"I'm good."

Not long later, the trembling died down and the noise faded, leaving the pair in silence. Eleanora was the first to crawl out from under the table and look around the apartment, which fortunately didn't seem to be very structurally damaged, bar from the cracked window. Various objects had been knocked to the grown, but that could be easily taken care of. The lights were still on, meaning the power hadn't gone out, and Tony made his way to the telephone. 

He dialled a number, held his breath for a moment and let out a small cheer when the call went through. "Rhodey? - Yeah, we're good, Lenny and I are both fine. You okay? - Good, good. Yeah, a window cracked but apart from that, everything's fine, I think... - Yeah, it wasn't too bad... - Okay, cool, I'll see you soon." Tony hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief. "Rhodey's fine. He was on his way back here, just pulled over and waited for it to pass. He'll be back in few minutes. You sure you're alright?" 

"Yeah, fine. I forgot how _loud_ earthquakes are," Eleanora shook her head. 

After giving Katie a call to make sure she was alright, the pair left the apartment to make sure everyone else in the building was okay. Most people were fine, and Eleanora and Tony helped a number tenants lift up fallen furniture and clean up hazardous breakages. 

Eleanora was relieved when Rhodey arrived to help out because she'd been experiencing waves of weakness, fatigue and lightheadedness that were increasing in frequency and physical labor was only making it worse. 

When Eleanora knocked on the next door, she heard a distressed yell from inside. She assumed that whoever it was wasn't able to get to the door, but it was locked. 

"Move over," Rhodey told her, taking a few steps back before storming forwards again and kicking the door open, the loud splintering noise making Eleanora jump. 

She stared at the man for a moment. "That was so powerful." 

"I totally could have done that," Tony hastily chipped in as they stepped inside, making her smile. 

"Hello?" she called. 

"Help!" a feminine voice cried. "I'm in the shower and I can't- I can't get up!" 

Eleanora found her way to the bathroom and poked her head in the door to see a young woman hunched over naked on the shower floor clutching her arm, while glass shards from the shattered shower screen were scattered on the tiles. Her eyes were glistening with tears and she was shivering slightly. 

"I think- I think I broke my arm," she sniffled. 

"Nora, what's going-" 

"Nope, get out," Eleanora cut Rhodey off as both men tried to come into the bathroom. "She was in the shower when it hit and she hurt her arm - you guys wait outside." 

"Why?" they asked in sync. 

"Because she's _naked_ , you divs." 

"Your point?" Tony grinned, only for her to smack him upside the head. "Ow!" 

"Don't be a perve." 

"I was joking! I was joking!" 

"Both of you just go be useful elsewhere, I've got this." 

Once the pair were out of the way, Eleanora grabbed a towel to cover her with and carefully helped the brunette to her feet, ignoring the dizziness that momentarily clouded her head. "My name's Eleanora, but you can call me Nora." 

"Amanda," she introduced through gritted teeth, evidently in pain and embarrassed by the ordeal. 

She towelled herself dry to the best of her abilities, and Eleanora tried to help her get dressed until Amanda decided it hurt too much to put on a shirt and just opted to wrap herself in a bathrobe over her trackpants. 

"You didn't get cut by any of the glass, did you?" 

Amanda shook her head. "Made me too scared to try and get up though. Didn't wanna go ass over tits when there's glass everywhere." 

"Good idea. Can you move your arm at all?" 

She shook her head again. 

"Alright, we'll take you to the hospital. Is there anyone we can call?" 

"Um, yeah, I can call my boyfriend." 

"Okay, great, we'll give him a call, take you down to the hospital, get you fixed up and you'll be back to normal in no time." 

"Thank you... sorry you had to deal with this," Amanda bit her lip. 

"What kind of person would I be if I didn't help?" 

"Still... thanks." 

When the two women walked out of the bathroom, Rhodey and Tony gave awkward waves and introduced themselves. 

"We're taking her to the hospital, which one of you wants to drive?" 

• • • 

They had been waiting in the Stanford Hospital Emergency Department for a few hours. The earthquake wasn't very major but in any natural disaster, like Amanda, there were always people in the wrong place at the wrong time, so it was to be expected that the ER was busier than usual. 

It didn't stop Tony from being a bit bitter though. It's not really like they _had_ to be there, but Eleanora had insisted on waiting with Amanda to keep her company at least until her boyfriend got there so she wasn't alone. She'd been acting a little weird but Tony wasn't sure if that was just shock from the earthquake and had just decided to leave it for the time being. 

It was just his luck that it had occurred just as she was about to tell him what was going on, but now he knew that she had been about to, had been _willing_ to tell him, so he felt much more at ease. The conversation would have to wait a bit, but she _was_ going to tell him. 

Due to the limited seating, Amanda was the only one of the four of them that was sitting down, with Eleanora, Tony and Rhodey standing around. Tony watched Eleanora for a few moments - she seemed quite fatigued, a distant expression in her eyes that didn't really line up with the small smile on her face. She kept closing her eyes for long moments and taking deep breaths. 

"I'm gonna go get some water," she muttered tiredly, just before Tony was about to ask if she was okay. 

"Me too," he quickly piped up, following her to the water cooler. 

Tony watched her carefully as she poured herself a cup of water and took deep breaths in between small sips. 

"Are you okay?" he asked uncertainly when she threw her empty cup in the bin and swayed ever so slightly. 

"I'm fine... just... just a bit..." she trailed off, lifting a hand to her temple. 

"Did you hit your head?" 

"N-no, I just... shit..." 

He could virtually see it happening in slow motion - the way her body swayed again, the way her eyes rolled up into her head and her knees buckled underneath her. 

"LENNY!" he shouted, clumsily grabbing onto to her before she hit the ground and carefully lowering her to the floor, panic flooding him. "Fuck, Lenny!" 

Eleanora's body went stiff all of a sudden, and then her arms and legs started twitching and jerking uncontrollably as her eyes blinked rapidly as though in a trance. She was having a seizure and Tony had no idea what to do. 

"HELP!" he croaked desperately. "Fucking _help her!"_

All he could do was stare helplessly as a number of hospital staff surrounded her, not-so-gently pushing him out of the way so they could work. He could barely concentrate on the questions they asked him, like if she was diabetic or if this was her first seizure, and his frustration only grew when none of them could tell him what was happening. 

Instead, they just moved her onto a hospital bed and rushed her away, leaving Tony kneeling on the ground feeling incredibly cold and empty all of a sudden. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...sorry?


	23. Eternal Game of Tug-of-War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony finds out what's really been going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been in the tags since the beginning but hasn't really been relevant yet. However, this chapter goes into pretty significant detail regarding eating disorders and if this is likely to be triggering for you, please don't read. Take care of yourselves <3

"-ny... _Tony_." 

Tony jumped when Rhodey grabbed his shoulder and hauled him up, an anxious but determined expression on his face as he glanced to the corridor they had taken Eleanora down. "C'mon man, you gotta pull it together. What happened?" 

"I don't know! She acting a little weird and then suddenly she collapsed and then she started- started-" he shook his head. 

"She'll be okay," Rhodey assured him, squeezing his shoulder. "Nora's tough." 

Tony knew that, but he also hadn't seen anything as disturbing or terrifying as the sight of Eleanora convulsing on the floor like that. He felt sick. 

"Hey, at least we're in the ER. The best possible place for a medical emergency to occur." 

"I just don't get why it happened," Tony shook his head, slightly pissed off by his optimism. "What _caused_ it?" 

"I don't think that's worth dwelling on that much right now," Rhodey said softly. "There's some seats over there, why don't you go sit down? I'm gonna grab some food from the vending machine." 

He nodded blankly and went and sat down where the other man had gestured, rubbing his hands over his face anxiously. 

To be honest, Tony had forgotten why they had been in the hospital in the first place until he saw a young man rush into the room, glancing around wildly until his eyes landed on Amanda and he hurried over to her. Tony watched as the man crouched in front of her and brushed some of her hair behind her ear as they conversed before raising himself up to place a kiss on her lips. He looked away. 

When Eleanora had left to go find Hannah to tell her the truth about Tucker, Tony had known that she wouldn't exactly be in great spirits when she returned. Which is why he had planned to take her out with Rhodey that afternoon before the man went to USAFA in a couple months, because he knew they got along well and wanted to make her feel better. 

Of course, everything had to turn to shit, as always. 

Tony gave a half-assed smile when Rhodey handed him a bag of chips and ordered him to eat it, grateful that he was letting them sit in silence rather than attempting to distract him. 

"Hey," a hesitant voice spoke up, making the two men look up at Amanda, who stood in front of them holding her arm. "I'm about to go in but, um, I wanted to say thanks for bringing me here. Would you be able to tell Nora I said thanks to her too? I hope- I hope she's okay." 

"It was no trouble," Rhodey assured her meanwhile Tony just nodded blankly and said, "Yeah, me too." 

Tony didn't know how long they had been waiting when the doctor, Dr Farrall, finally came out to tell them what had happened. 

"From what we can gather, Eleanora suffered a tonic-clonic seizure caused by severe hypoglycaemia," she told them. 

"Hypoglycaemia?" Tony repeated in confusion. 

"Low blood sugar." 

"No, I know that," he replied in annoyance. "I'm just confused about _how_. How was her blood sugar so low that it made her have a fucking seizure? That doesn't make any sense." 

"Mister Stark," Doctor Farrall began softly, "given that she's not diabetic and her blood work doesn't indicate any other underlying medical conditions aside from anemia, it was likely due to an eating disorder of some kind. Is she left-handed?" 

Tony blinked and nodded, wondering what the fuck that had to do with anything while trying to process what she had just told them. 

_I've always had issues surrounding the idea of perfection_ , Eleanora had told him. _It's more of an obsession, really._

"She has what's called Russell's sign; slight calluses on the knuckles of her left hand, which can indicate repeated attempts at manual self-induced vomiting, and therefore suggest bulimia," she explained. "Not all bulimic individuals develop Russell's sign and obviously the scars may be from something else, but given the circumstances and a couple of other factors... I'd say it's pretty likely." 

"Other factors?" Rhodey questioned. 

"Well, her heartbeat is slightly irregular, her skin is dry, and there's also her low blood pressure. Once again, there's a chance they're unrelated, but they are all effects of bulimia so until we get more information it's certainly not something we can rule out. She's currently asleep - her body is probably very exhausted and needs to rest for a bit so we won't know for sure until she wakes up. We've got her on a glucose drip to restore her blood sugar levels and rehydrate her. I'll keep you updated."

"Thank you." There was a pause as the woman walked away. "Tones?" 

Tony swallowed, still struggling to comprehend the news. "I can't... I don't... she never..." 

"I know." 

"She was about to tell me, Rhodey. She snapped at me today out of the blue and walked out and I was really confused but then she came back to apologise and she was _so close_ to telling me. She was talking about her issues with trying to be perfect and then the earthquake came and I thought it could take a backseat for a bit y'know? I didn't realise how bad it was. And then I noticed her acting weird but I just thought it was shock or something so I didn't say anything. And then..." 

"You can't honestly believe any of this is your fault." 

"I should call Katie. She'd wanna know... hopefully she's at their apartment." 

Tony heard Rhodey let out a sigh as he walked away to find a telephone. He didn't understand it, why Eleanora would go to such extreme lengths, hurting herself in the process, to achieve her idea of perfect when he thought she was- well, when there was nothing wrong with how she looked. Like, at all. He didn't understand how she could think that her pattern of eating was a better option than having a bit of extra weight. Frankly, he was still wrapping his head around it all, bits and pieces in his head locking into place bit by bit. 

_"Hello?"_

"Katie? It's Tony." 

_"Um, hi,"_ she replied, voice conveying only slight confusion. _"What can I do for you, Stark?"_

Tony let out a breath and twirled the cord around in his fingers. "It's... it's Lenny. After the earthquake we found this girl with a broken arm so we brought her to the hospital but then while we were waiting, Lenny, uh, she collapsed and had a seizure." 

_" **What?!** Holy shit, is she okay?" _

"Yeah, she's okay now. It was a hypoglycaemic seizure, they reckon it was caused by an eating disorder... probably bulimia." 

_"Oh my god... I-I had no idea. I fucking **live**_ _with her and I had no idea."_

Tony didn't know how to respond to that without being a hypocrite. "It's not your fault," he said anyway. "No point dwelling on it now, anyway. She's asleep at the moment, they've got her on a glucose drip to get her levels back up." 

_"Stanford hospital, right? I'll be there when I can. Not sure when that'll be considering everything's a bit of a fuckin' mess right now, but I will be there."_

"Thanks... I'll see you then." 

About twenty minutes later, as Tony was on the verge of falling asleep on Rhodey's shoulder, the sight of two people hurrying into the hospital caught his eye. Two people whom he recognised from that time he had seen them storming out of Tucker's house - Eleanora's parents. They had a brief conversation with the lady at the desk before moving to take a seat. However, the woman froze when her eyes landed on his and narrowed, before she stalked over to him, her husband following behind. 

"Stark," the woman addressed coldly, not even looking in Rhodey's direction. 

Tony wasn't sure what the fuck he had done to elicit such a frosty greeting from her when they had literally never spoken before, although the fact that she knew enough about him to dislike him _did_ please him. 

"You must be Mr and Mrs Myers," he replied politely, before blurting out, "what are you doing here?"

He was referring to how they actually knew what had happened, but he knew it sounded bad as soon as it came out of his mouth. 

"We're her emergency contacts, you insolent boy," Mrs Myers snipped. "They called us as soon as she was admitted." 

"Bet she doesn't know that," he muttered under his breath. He knew she most likely would have scratched their names off her emergency contact list as soon as she was legally allowed to if she had remembered it. She was going to hate it when she found out they were here. "Is this how you usually interact people you're meeting for the first time or do you just not like me?" 

Mr Myers let out a scoff and crossed his arms over his chest. "Eleanora was doing fine in her studies until you showed up." 

Tony raised his eyebrows. "You really wanna do this? Okay, _first of all_ , she is and always _has been_ doing great. Secondly, contrary to what you may believe, she is quite capable of making her own decisions and if she didn't wanna hang around me, she wouldn't. Thirdly, not that you'd notice because she doesn't like spending time with you, but she's actually been happier lately, which should be way higher on your priorities than her fucking grades." 

"She's happier?" Mrs Myers challenged. "Is that why she starved herself half to death?" 

Tony clenched his jaw. 

"You're aware that she's in a happy relationship, right? With a man that is actually responsible and won't ruin her life so stop trying to get between them." 

He let out a mirthless huff of laughter. "Of course, she hasn't told you, has she?" 

"Told us _what?"_

"She broke up with your precious Tucker. Turned out he was engaged and had been for a couple years. And for the record, I never was trying to get between them, Lenny is my _friend_." 

"Lenny?" Mr Myers repeated with distaste, apparently not liking the nickname. _Good_. 

Tony rolled his eyes. "I think it's pretty fucking interesting that you're discussing my friendship with her as if a) it's any of your business, b) when I just told you she was being _cheated on_ and you apparently don't give a shit and c) when she's in a fucking hospital bed because of _your_ impossible standards of her." 

He heard Rhodey hold his breath beside him and vaguely wondered if that was an inappropriate thing to say. 

"Are you implying that this is our fault?" the woman responded icily. 

"I'm not implying that," he shook his head. "I'm _saying_ it." 

Just as Mr Myers took a furious step forward, Doctor Farrall appeared, awkwardly clearing her throat as she glanced between the two parties. "Eleanora's awake. She said she's ready for visitors-" 

"Oh, good," Mrs Myers nodded, starting to move away. 

"She's just requesting Mister Stark, at the moment," she hastily continued, making the woman freeze and glare in his direction. "Come this way, sir." 

"Thanks, doc," Tony smiled politely, shooting a smirk over his shoulder at the older couple.

"And who are _you?"_ he heard Eleanora's father demand impatiently as he followed the doctor away. He glanced back again and gave Rhodey an apologetic look. 

He'd be fine. 

**• • •**

Eleanora knew that shit was about to get really awkward, but when the door to her room opened and Tony walked in, she underestimated just how badly she'd want to bury herself in a hole.

"Hey," he said awkwardly after a moment of silence, standing hesitantly by the door.

"Hi," she replied quietly. "So... what exactly did they tell you?"

Tony bit the inside of his cheek and let out a soft sigh. "Hypoglycaemic seizure... most likely caused by an eating disorder... specifically bulimia."

_Well, shit._

Eleanora looked down at her hands, suddenly unable to look the boy in the eye out of shame. 

"That's what you were about to tell me, right? Before the earthquake."

She nodded.

"But then you decided that that wasn't dramatic enough. You had to faint and have a seizure in the middle of the ER."

She cracked a grin and finally looked back up to meet his eye. "Obviously. I wanted verve."

Tony let out a small laugh and took a few steps closer to her bed, his expression quickly dropping again. "You, uh... you really scared me, Lenny. Rhodey, too. And the shower girl. You're parents seemed more concerned with having a go at me, though, which-"

"My parents are here?!" Eleanora cut him off, panic flooding her body. They couldn't know, they _couldn't_.

Tony grimaced and nodded.

" _Please_ don't tell me they told them too."

"They had to," he responded, expression pained. "They're your emergency contacts."

Eleanora buried her face in her hands, lungs constricting and insides twisting. "Fuck!"

"Lenny..."

Tears started to pool in her eyes and she angrily wiped at them, frustrated at herself for allowing her parents to have such an effect on her. They were going to hate her, they were going to judge her, they were going to be ashamed and embarrassed.

"C'mon who cares what they think?" Tony asked, sitting down beside her bed.

" _I_ do," she whispered. "And I hate it but I _do_ care what they think. I don't want to but I can't help it."

"Just because they're here, doesn't mean you have to see them. You don't have to talk to them if you don't want to."

"I need to, though. Because if it's not now, they're just going to bring it up later and I can't avoid them forever."

"Sure you can," Tony said optimistically, making a small smile pull at her lips. "Lenny... there's- there's nothing wrong with you, okay? You don't have to do this to yourself."

She looked away again. "Yes, I do, you don't understand."

"Then _help me_ to."

"Don't you see?" she asked, and met his eye. "I don't either."

"I wanna understand it, Lenny. Just... explain it to me as best you can."

Eleanora didn't _want_ to explain it. It was humiliating and she'd rather take it to the grave. But then she made eye contact with the boy and maybe it was everything they had been through together already or maybe it was the patient way he was looking at her, eyes expressing only care and concern, not judgement.

She sighed and leant back to stare thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "It, um, it started as a stress thing, actually. There were a couple times I was so ridiculously stressed and anxious about something that I felt like I wanted to puke, but I wasn't going to, so I... I made it happen and it actually made me feel better."

Tony nodded and reached forward to hesitantly place a hand on her forearm, listening intently. So she continued, more reassured by his hand on her am than she expected to be. 

"And then... the progression was pretty gradual, which is why it took me so long to realise it was a problem. It was originally just when I occasionally ate too much food, or food that was really unhealthy, and felt sick so I'd- I'd purge to alleviate that. But then over time, my standard of 'too much food' grew lower and lower and it- it _consumed_ me. My whole days became centred around food and planning how to avoid it or planning when I could... get rid of it.

"I knew, logically, that it was really fucked up, that it wasn't healthy at all. But it was- it's like there's two separate people within me that are playing a game of tug-of-war and feeding off each other. There's the instinctual, ravenous part of me that wants to eat all the time, even when I'm not hungry and then there's the insecure, self-loathing part of me that doesn't want to _touch_ food, but neither of them are really _me,_ and they feel separate to me, but they've got the wheel. And the more I try to avoid food, the more I want to eat and then when I eat, the more I want to avoid food.

"It's- it's an addiction. Or rather, two separate addictions that facilitate one another. There's the side of me that is addicted to eating and constantly thinking about and craving food even when I don't need it, just for the brief moment of enjoyment I feel while eating.

"And then there's the side of me that is addicted to trying to obtain a- a perfect body and constantly thinks about everything that's wrong with me and how much weight I'll put on if I eat something and how _easy_ it is to undo what I have eaten... how if I throw it back up then it's basically like I haven't eaten it... a cheat.

"And it fucking sucks because I _know_ how damaging it is, I _know_ that it doesn't even get everything back out. But during those- those times, it's like I become another person and _all_ I can think about is how heavy the food inside me feels and how I just want it out and 'just one more time won't hurt', except it's _not_ 'just one more time', it became every fucking day, to the point where I'd be throwing up bile and I'd be getting severe stomach pain. 

"And then once I'm done, I suddenly return to my normal self- whatever that is -and I just- I _hate myself_ for letting it happen and letting it get this far and not being able to get out of the cycle. I want to get better, I do, but when- when you hate yourself that much... you don't _want_ to treat your body right, it doesn't feel worthy of it. I've come close to stopping before... I was clean for nearly two months at one point, and then I fell and I fell _hard._ It was... violent." 

Tony's hand squeezed her arm lightly - comfortingly - and he gave her a small smile, albeit sad. "Thank you sharing all that with me. That can't have been easy. It, uh, it seems to me like you _do_ understand it." 

And he was right, she _did_ understand it to a point, but admitting that she understood made it feel like this was a choice. If she understood it, why couldn't she put an end to it?

"Not enough to stop it."

"I don't think this is something that can just be 'stopped', Lenny. You said yourself that it's an addiction, and addictions aren't choices. No one chooses to be addicted to anything, and if they were easy to kick, they wouldn't be called addictions in the first place."

"I'm just... I'm so _tired_ ," she breathed, voice cracking. "I'm tired of all of it. I'm tired of thinking about food and I'm tired of hating myself and I just want to be happy with who I am."

"You'll get there," he promised. "It'll take time and work, but I know you can do it. _We_ will do it."

A fond warmth bloomed in Eleanora's chest, a rush of affection for Tony urging her to hug him. Instead she just smiled gratefully at him, hoping it conveyed her appreciation for his support. "Thank you, Tony. I can't-"

"Eleanora?" Jackie, one of Eleanora's nurses, poked her head in the door. "Your parents are outside and they're, uh, quite insistent on coming to see you. I can send them away if you want me to-"

"No, that's fine," Eleanora interrupted with a tight smile. "You can let them in. Thanks, Jackie."

"Okay," the nurse replied hesitantly. "Give me a buzz if you need anything, sweetie."

Tony's warm hand dropped from her arm as Jackie went to go get her parents and Eleanora felt slightly colder. "Do you want me to go?" he asked, his expression indicating he would rather not. 

Eleanora shook her head. "No, you're good. It'll probably be good to have you here, you might be a buffer."

He let out a huff of laughter. "Yeah, I don't think so. Given what they said to me outside before, I'd say they won't hold back because of me."

Her heart rate quickened in anger. "Wait, what the hell did they-"

"Eleanora," her mother's irritatingly polite voice cut her off as she and Reginald swept into the room, eyeing Tony with displeasure before looking back at her daughter and crossing her arms. . "So, what is this all about?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so obviously this chapter was really heavy and honestly I was kinda nervous about posting it because it gets a bit ~personal~. Obviously people's experiences with eating disorders can be very different. Eleanora's -and in particular, her explanation/perception of bulimia - is based very heavily if not entirely on my own (except my parents are generally good people lol). I've been recovering for about a year now and it hasn't been easy but I'm in a much better place than I used to be. 
> 
> Also a heads up that Eleanora's recovery is going to be a strong focus for the rest of the story, so naturally eating disorders are going to be discussed/mentioned fairly regularly throughout the rest of the book as we follow her recovery. 
> 
> If any of you wanna chat for whatever reasons or ask any questions (especially if you are going through/have gone through what Eleanora is), feel free to shoot me a message on my tumblr (same username). 
> 
> Thank you all for your continued support, much love!!


	24. I'll Be There For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora talks with her parents, her friends support her, and a surprise visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long, shit's been hectic! Happy belated Hannukah and Christmas and happy Kwanzaa!

  
  
  
" _So, what is this all about?"_

Eleanora stared at her mother for a moment, stunned by the question. As if she had chosen this, as if this was some stunt she had pulled to get her parents' attention or prove a point.

"I didn't ask you guys to come," she said bluntly.

Reginald let out an impatient sigh. "Eleanora, just tell us what's going on. This isn't a good look for you or the family."

Eleanora felt as if she had been struck, and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "That, right there. _It's not a good look_ , you're _always_ so concerned about appearances and looking good and maintaining reputation and being perfect. Not only that, you're always judging and criticising other people - and for the most trivial things, too.

"And it's one thing to think that way, but I've grown up hearing it constantly from both of you and it taught _me_ to think that way too. I've spent the last five years or so of my life trying to be a better person and change the way I think about other people, to not criticise or judge the way that you do. And I _have_ , I've become a much better person, but for some reason I still couldn't stop thinking that way about _myself_.

"You always expected me to be confident but I how the fuck could you expect that when you _trained_ me to nitpick at everyone around me, to find their flaws. How could I _not_ look at myself the same way? You _knew_ I looked up to you, you _knew_ the influence you-" 

"Give me a break!" Beatrice cut her off harshly. "You really want to blame this on us? We just wanted you to fulfil your potential, to always seek improvement and not settle for good enough. If it was really _our_ fault then how come Serena turned out just fine? Just because _you_ took that too far and that _you_ were too sensitive to handle it and decided to act out and throw this big hissy fit instead, doesn't mean that we need to be sorry for that." 

Eleanora stared at her in disbelief. "You really have no idea, do you?"

"You're eighteen, Eleanora," Reginald sighed condescendingly, "don't tell us that we don't understand."

"But you _don't!_ You don't have a fucking clue, and the frustrating thing is that you refuse to even _try_ to understand or to accept the vaguest shred of blame."

"Why should we? You can't handle a bit of tough love so you try to blame us for insecurities and pull a stunt like this to- to what? To embarrass us? If so, congratulations, you've done it well."

"I think you should leave," Tony declared furiously, standing up from his seat.

"This is none of your business-"

"Get out," Eleanora cut Beatrice off, voice trembling. "Get _out!"_

"Come on," Reginald shook his head, guiding his wife out of the room.

Eleanora had known that the conversation wasn't going to be pleasant, but her parents' words were so much more hurtful than she had expected, and her eyes burned with tears. That wasn't just rejection, that was _cruel_. And yet, she still didn't think they were even trying to be.

"How _dare_ they?" Tony seethed, staring at the door. "How- I can't even- I don't understand how people like that produced someone as kind as you, I'll tell you, It's a fucking miracle."

"That really fucking hurt," she managed calmly, making the boy turn around as tears started to trickle down her cheeks. His expression softened and he sat straight back down and placed his hand over hers.

"Lenny, none of what they said was true. You know that, right?"

She stared a their hands for a moment, not sure all of a sudden. _Was_ she just weak? _Was_ she being too harsh on them? She didn't argue though, just gave a small sniff, trying her hardest to keep herself together, but fighting a losing battle. "Still hurts."

"You don't have to put up some act with me," he told her softly. "What they said was fucking horrible and you're allowed to be upset about it."

A small sob escaped her lips and she curled into herself, drawing her knees up to her chest and hiding her face behind her hands.

"Oh, Lenny..." She heard Tony moved and then she felt a dip in the bed as he sat beside her and used an arm to pull her into his side, rubbing her arm comfortingly. A feeling of safety engulfed her like a warm blanket, and she leant into him. "They don't deserve you." 

**• • •**

It didn't take long for Eleanora's breaths to even out and her eyes to drift shut as she fell asleep once more. Tony awkwardly lowered her back down onto the bed, extracting his arm out from under her back. He took a seat back in the chair and took a few moments to examine her sleeping form.

Her cheeks were slightly puffy, her lips dry and cracked from dehydration. His gaze drifted to her knuckles and he brushed his thumb over the calluses he had noticed multiple times but never thought anything of. He thought about every instance he could recall in which she avoided food or acted weird about it, subtle critical comments she had made about herself, about her eating habits, and the way she would often cross her arms across her stomach. He thought about how often she chewed gum, he'd thought she just really liked gum, not even considering that she may be trying to mask the scent of vomit. The signs were there, he should have noticed, should have put the pieces together. 

Instead, he was distracted. Distracted by the shine in her eyes, the brightness of her smile and the little black hearts she drew on her face. He'd only noticed what he'd wanted to - her happiness. 

He had failed her. 

**• • •**

When Eleanora blearily opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was Rhodey sitting beside her bed reading a newspaper. 

"Hey, Nora. I didn't wake you, did I?" 

Eleanora let out a huff of laughter as she sat up in her bed. "You're reading silently, Rhodey. No, you didn't wake me." 

"How are you feeling?" he asked, putting the paper aside. 

She thought about the question for a few seconds. "Weird. I feel this sense of dread and anxiety about it all coming out and what's to come, but I also feel this immense sense of relief. I can feel that this is the start of something, and I know it's going to be hard and going to suck, but I also know that it's going to be a good thing." 

"It will," he nodded with a soft smile. "If there's any way at all that I can help with anything, just let me know." 

"Thank you, Rhodey," she said sincerely. "I really appreciate that." 

"Not a problem. Do you wanna do the puzzles?" he asked, holding the newspaper out to her. 

Eleanora took it with a grin. "Thanks. I don't have the patience for the cryptic crosswords but I love sudokus. I could do them all day." 

"Yeah, cryptic crosswords are bullshit." 

"So, uh, not that I don't appreciate your company-" 

"He's gone to get coffee," Rhodey answered knowingly. "Should be back in a minute or so." 

"Is he... okay?" 

He let out a small laugh. "You're the one in a hospital bed and you're asking if he's okay? Yeah, he's just really worried. And he feels guilty." 

Eleanora blinked. "Guilty?" 

"For not noticing." 

"That was kind of the point." 

"I know... but he still blames himself. Nora, I'm not gonna pretend to understand, because I have no idea what you're going through, but please promise me you'll get help?" 

Eleanora met Rhodey's imploring gaze and nodded. "I promise."

The pair settled into a comfortable silence and, sure enough, it wasn't long later that Tony walked in, a smile forming on his face when he saw Eleanora. "There you go," he said, handing a coffee to Rhodey before looking at her again. "Do you want anything? I can run back to the cafe if there's anything you want?" 

"I'm good, thanks." 

Tony nodded and pushed her legs to one side of the bed so he could sit down, shooting her an innocent grin when she kicked him lightly. "How long are you gonna be in here for?" 

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly. "I think they want to keep me here for a couple nights so they can... observe me, I guess. See how much of a risk I am to myself." 

"To be fair, you did have a seizure," Tony pointed out bluntly, and Rhodey face-palmed but Eleanora just rolled her eyes dramatically. 

"It was _one_ time. First offence and all." 

"Well that's good to hear at least. Can I ask... did Tucker know?" 

"Nope, no one did. And... I'm not blaming him because there was so much that contributed to it but... he certainly didn't help. There were a lot of comments he made that..." she shrugged.   
He was joking, but it still... you know, it still-" 

"You don't have to defend him," Rhodey scowled. 

"I'm not defending him," Eleanora shook her head. "I just know that I had issues with food long before we met and there's so much that built up and started it that it really wouldn't be true to say it's his fault." She paused. "Although... I was doing good, I was doing quite a bit better before I found out about his fiancee and I guess after finding that out, it really fucked me up. I couldn't help but feel like the second option, you know? And I didn't want to be _his_ first option, but I wanted to be _something,_ and with everything that happened, I got really stuck in this rut of 'I'm not good enough' and I know it's really fucked but... it was like another person within me that would take over and then I'd be left with the self-loathing." 

Eleanora hadn't meant to go quite that deep, and a heavy silence filled the room at her last sentence. 

"Fun, fun," she added awkwardly, as if that would help. "So I guess it's fair to say that while this isn't Tucker's fault, he did... aggravate it. Quite a lot." She gave another shrug in an attempt to brush it off. 

"I still vote we kill him," Tony piped up. 

" _Still?_ When was that first brought up for discussion?" 

"I don't know, some time in the last few days?"

"Okay, well, I appreciate the thought, but I'll just think about it for now." 

Just as Tony went to respond, there was a knock on the door, and upon invitation, Katie walked in, holding a small duffel bag. "Nora, you idiot." 

Eleanora just laughed. 

"I'm not sure how long you're going to be here so I brought you some of your stuff. Some clothes and toiletries and things. I need to ask you something though," she said, unzipping the bag and pulling out a t-shirt with the words 'self-love' printed across the front, making Eleanora grimace. "Do you think this is fucking funny? I've seen you wear this so many times and this whole time you've had a fucking eating disorder? Self-love, my ass." 

She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, to be honest, I do." 

"You're insane. Anyway, I bought a sudoku book too since you'll probably be bored out of your ass." 

Katie tossed the book into her lap, and Eleanora stared at her for a few seconds, her chest growing warm. 

"Thanks, Katie." 

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. Now, scooch." 

Eleanora shifted over on the bed, allowing the other girl to sit beside her. 

"Do you wanna go for a walk to find a vending machine, Tony?" Rhodey asked, standing up. 

"I'm not really- uh, I mean, yeah, sure," Tony corrected when he made eye contact with him , also getting to his feet and following the taller boy out the door. 

"Smooth," Katie sniggered with a slight shake of her head. 

Eleanora smiled and looked down at her lap before letting out a small sigh. "I thought you didn't like me that much." 

"Nora, I thought _you_ didn't like _me_ that much!" she retorted. "I've... I've had some pretty shitty friends in the past... trust issues, all that jazz. Thought it'd be easier to just keep my distance but then you had to go and get cheated on and roofied and you made it really hard to act like I didn't care. And now that this has happened, I can't help but feel like if I wasn't the way I was, I would've noticed or maybe you would've felt comfortable opening up to me and this wouldn't have gotten this far." 

Eleanora playfully bumped her shoulder and teasingly said, "don't flatter yourself. Not everything is about you. Besides, this is something that's been building up over years, something that I've been learning to hide for years, the whole point was that no one would know." 

Katie nodded and was quiet for a moment. "I think you're right about Tony - he's not the person he pretends to be. I think you guys would be cute together." 

Eleanora sighed. "Katie, for starters, he's my _friend_ , and secondly, a relationship is the last thing on my mind right now. With everything that's happened the last couple of weeks, I just... I need to focus on myself for awhile." 

"I know. And I completely agree with you. I'm just saying... for future reference, y'know? He really cares about you. Also James is a _specimen_ , I would climb that man like a tree any day." 

She burst into laughter and beamed across at the red head. "I really appreciate you being here." 

Katie smiled back and grabbed her hand. "Whatever you need, Nora, I'll be here." 

A short while later, as the end of visiting hours approached, Eleanora managed to convince the three of them to go eat dinner and that she would be fine on her own. Not even a few minutes after they left, there was another knock at her door. 

"Siri?" Eleanora breathed when Serena stepped inside, hands wringing together nervously. The young woman didn't say anything, but when Eleanora moved over and patted the bed beside her, Serena came forward and climbed in beside her, resting her head on Eleanora's shoulder. 

Eleanora didn't say anything else, just snuggled into her sister's side as Serena placed a kiss on the top of her head and started gently stroking her hair. 

"I'm so sorry," Serena finally whispered a few minutes later. "I shouldn't have been so pushy about... all of it. I wasn't- I wasn't just trying to suck up for attention, you know. I figured that if I acted like the perfect child, they'd leave you alone more. I had no idea how bad it really was or what you were going through. I'm starting to realise just how wrong Mum and Dad are about... everything." 

She gave a small smile and squeezed Serena's hand. "Better late than never." 


	25. Square One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora begins her recovery.

When Eleanora was released from hospital, she had been referred to both a dietician and a psychologist, which her parents had offered to pay for because she "needed to be fixed". 

Tony, Rhodey and Katie all drove together to pick her up from the hospital, and the ride back to her and Katie's apartment was admittedly a little awkward. However, it did make Eleanora realise how many people actually cared for her and how far she had come socially in the last year. 

She had an appointment booked with a psychologist for the following day and one with a dietician on Wednesday, but for the rest of the day, she could just relax. Apparently Rhodey and Tony had convinced Katie to commit to watching the Star Wars trilogy, which seemed to be their plan for the afternoon/night. Eleanora hardly minded, however. In fact, you could even say she was a bit excited. 

It was clear that they didn't really know how to act around her when food came up, although that was a bit of an understatement. It didn't take long at all for her to get a bit fed up with the anxious glances they'd shoot her way, wondering whether to offer her food or not and whether to be concerned when she turned it down. 

"Stop being weird, guys," she finally sighed, near the end of Empire Strikes Back. "I really am okay, right now. Just treat me like you normally do, I'm not gonna have a breakdown at the mention of food." 

"Sorry," Tony scratched the back of his neck. "Just... you'll say something if we do anything to make you uncomfortable, right?" 

"Yeah," Eleanora nodded, smiling appreciatively. "I will." 

**• • •**

"There's no need to be nervous. You can literally walk out whenever you want. I wouldn't advise it, but the point is that you _can_. You're not trapped. She's there to help you, she's not gonna judge you."

Eleanora bit her lip and nodded, looking between Tony and the building where Doctor Wren's office was situated. "Yeah... still don't like it." 

"You don't have to. You just have to try." 

"Thanks again for driving me, you didn't have to do that." 

"I know. I wanted to," he shrugged. "And I'll be here when you come out. You'll be fine." 

Eleanora nodded and sighed before shooting him a nervous smile and walking inside. After checking in, she was told to wait outside Doctor Wren's office, and although it wasn't long before she was called in, it was long enough for her to simmer in her anxiety for a bit. 

"Eleanora?" an older woman with dark hair smiled kindly. "I'm Doctor Wren, but feel free to just call me Nina. Come on in." 

She smiled tightly and followed the woman into her office, taking a seat at the armchair she had gestured to. 

Doctor Wren pushed her glasses up her nose and crossed her legs. "To start off with, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, Eleanora?" 

_For fuck's sake._

Eleanora had thought that the session would go by quickly, but it most certainly did not. It dragged on for what felt like much longer than an hour, and while she knew that she would get out what she put in, she couldn't help the urge to be stubborn and talk as little a she could. Doctor Wren was quick but smooth in her transition from small talk to deep, probing questions that made Eleanora's tongue swell. 

_Why don't you tell me about your last out-of-control binge?_ _Can you describe what was going on internally and what was going on around you before, during and after the binge?_

She didn't know how to answer some of them and wasn't completely honest about others. But Doctor Wren was patient and reassuring and repeatedly told her they could come back later to any of the questions. Some of them weren't so bad though, like when she asked about her current support network. After initially telling her about Katie, Tony and Rhodey, Doctor Wren would bring them up every now and again when the conversation got harder, which Eleanora suspected was to make her a little more comfortable. 

Doctor Wren said they would be using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to treat her disorder, and outlined the three main phases of the treatment. She also explained that it would involve homework in the form of self-monitoring, including journaling her patterns of eating and related thoughts and feelings, as well as weekly weighing. Eleanora was also asked to record any environmental, emotional and physiological circumstances that preceded any event she perceived as a binge as it would allow them to figure out what forces were driving her to keep binge-eating even though she had been trying so hard to stop

"The focus of the treatment is on gaining control of the eating behaviours," the doctor explained when Eleanora nervously asked if she would gain weight. "Most patients don't gain weight... many even lose weight since they are reducing binge-eating. You may experience fluctuations in water weight and sensations of being bloated, but these are usually temporary." 

_Usually_ , Eleanora repeated in her head, before shaking the thought off and nodding sharply. 

When she walked out of the building, Tony was sitting patiently at a bench outside, roughly sketching a design for something. When he saw her, he smiled and stood up, putting the things away. 

"How did it go?" 

Eleanora just let out a breath and wrapped her arms around him. Tony didn't say anything, just hugged her back and held her for a few seconds until she pulled away. 

"C'mon, let's get outta here," he said, gesturing to his car. 

As they drove back to Stanford, Eleanora couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't asking any more questions about the session because he was trying not to be pushy (and to be fair, she'd had a go at him multiple times for that) or if he simply didn't care. 

_Of course he cares, you idiot,_ she told herself. _Why else would he be doing all of this? Say something._

"I've got another session in five days," she spoke up, picking at her nails. "She, uh, she said she'll be using something called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy... something about targeting both thoughts and behaviours, though that's fairly self-explanatory from the name. I have homework, though, which is a bit annoying, but also crucial for the state of my mental health so I guess I better do it," she finished with a grin. 

"What kind of homework?" 

"Um, I have to record like... all of my eating and what I'm thinking and feeling at the time... bla bla bla. I also have to record when I use cognitive restructuring techniques and coping mechanisms and stuff. And I have to weigh myself weekly." 

"Is that... more or less often that you usually do? If you don't mind me asking, that is." 

"Much less," she answered honestly, thinking back to when she would weigh herself before and after meals to see how much they weighed, and before and after her purges to see how much of it she could get back up. "Would you, um, would you mind if I moved my scales to your place? Just so that I'm not tempted to weigh myself constantly and make sure I only do it when I'm supposed to." 

"Yeah, of course. Whatever you need, Lenny. So the session was okay?" 

Eleanora tilted her head. "It was really hard, but... I can tell it's going to be a good thing... eventually." 

Tony glanced across at her with a small smile. "I'm really proud of you, you know." 

She didn't know, and the declaration caused a warm tingle to spread through her chest, and her cheeks heated slightly as she smiled back before looking out the window to hide the wateriness of her eyes. 

The appointment with her dietician, Doctor Evans, was quite a bit easier than her session with Doctor Wren. It was more based on education rather than emotionally probing and confronting. The tasks and goals that Doctor Evans set her were no less daunting, however, and between the two doctors, she had a lot of journaling and self-monitoring to do. As if she didn't have enough homework from uni alone. 

At her second appointment with Doctor Wren, Eleanora ended up opening up a lot more about her childhood and how her attitude about food and her self-image had developed throughout her years. They discussed the cycle of food restriction and binging and purging, and identifying disordered eating behaviours and cognitions and triggers. 

When Eleanora brought up her concerns about balancing it all with college, Doctor Wren proposed the idea of deferring for a year so she could focus exclusively on her health for a while and then get back into it. Eleanora knew it was probably a smart idea, but they were almost at the end of the academic year anyway and then she'd have all summer to work on her recovery and would hopefully be in a better state of mind come sophomore year. 

Besides, Tony was graduating in a year and, while she didn't really want to admit it, the idea of having to do an extra year of study without Tony or Katie there was a bit unappealing. 

_I'll think about it_ , she had said. 

The next few weeks were among the hardest of Eleanora's life. Doctor Evans had given her a meal plan and she was advised to start exercising regularly as it relieved depressive symptoms, tension and stress, would help her sleep and could also boost self-esteem. She also joined a bulimia support group, started mindfulness meditation and began her search for a hobby that could help her cope with it all. That ended up being puzzles; word puzzles, number puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, all of it could help distract and calm her when she was having negative thoughts (and also gave her less time to hate herself). 

While the first week was okay, and Eleanora felt inspired to participate enthusiastically in it all, she very quickly hit a slump and found herself at a loss of motivation to do anything when none of it was instantly helping. She felt like she had put in so much effort and wasn't getting anything out of it and it fucking sucked. Logically, she knew that it would take some time to notice a significant change but that didn't change the fact that the lack of results was extremely disheartening. 

Eleanora found herself slipping in her food-logging, not following the meal plan, pressing the snooze button instead of going for a morning run and giving up on meditating because that shit was _hard_. When she skipped a support group meeting for the first time, she spent the entire time curled up in her bed, furious at herself for not being able to do anything. 

"I'll do it with you," Tony offered, after Eleanora explained all this (or rather, a watered down version of it) to him on the way to her next session with Doctor Wren. "We can exercise and meditate together, we can eat together, I can remind you to do your journaling, I can take you to all your support group meetings so you can't avoid them-" 

"Tony," Eleanora cut him off with a soft sigh. "That's... that's really sweet of you, but it's a lot. _I'm_ a lot and you definitely don't have to-" 

"It's _not_ , Lenny. You're not 'a lot'. I should be exercising and meditating anyway, that shit is good for you. And so is all the food in your meal plan so that definitely won't be any kind of burden at all. I want to help in anyway that I can because I care about you and I want you to feel better... not to mention that you're my friend and I wanna spend time with you anyway." 

Eleanora bit the inside of her cheek and looked out the window as Tony parked the car. "It's not just- I know that-.... There's a reason I never wanted you to know," she finally managed and glanced over a Tony to see the slight hurt on his face. "I didn't want you to know because I didn't want you to just see me as this." 

He frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?" 

She let out another sigh. "I don't- I'm more than this, you know? I appreciate everything you've done more than you can imagine but I don't- I don't want you to just see me as my eating disorder and I just feel like the more you see into... all of it, the more you'll characterise me by it." 

"Of course you're more than this. It's just something that you're going through, it's not _you_ and I'm not going to reduce you to it. I know you, Lenny, and nothing will make me think any less of you, especially this. I want to help you in any way that I can. Please let me." 

"Okay," she said quietly after a few moments. "Yeah... we'll do it together." 

After going over Eleanora's food logs for the last two weeks to identify patterns and triggers of disordered eating, Doctor Wren recommended that Eleanora reduce alcohol consumption, if not cut it out entirely. Not even two days after mentioning this to Katie, Eleanora noticed that all the alcohol in their apartment was gone. She also noticed the absence of alcohol in Tony's kitchen the next time she was at his place. 

Summer holidays began and a heavy weight lifted off Eleanora's chest. Without the pressure of her uni work, working through her regimen suddenly felt a lot easier. As promised, Tony began to joining her on her morning runs, after which they would meditate. 

He initially got really weird about the fact that she refused to eat breakfast before exercising, leaving her to reluctantly explain that she had royally fucked up her oesophagus and got really bad reflux when she exercised unless she hadn't eaten in hours. 

Tony also drove her to her support group meetings and ate the same meals as her when he could, as did Katie. The redhead also reluctantly exercised with her, but much preferred helping her with thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles that would cover their kitchen table. When Eleanora asked why she wasn't home for the holidays, Katie told her how she'd only be going home for about a week because she didn't want to take too much time off work so she could save her money for when she wanted to travel. 

Eleanora's own parents had asked when she was coming home but, frankly, she couldn't stand being back home in her current state of mind. So she told them that she needed the consistency and that the change of moving back home for the holidays might disrupt her recovery (which wasn't a lie, to be fair) and would also be further away from her dietician and psychologist. Naturally, they were quick to drop the subject - her eating disorder was too embarrassing for them. They'd simply tell anyone that asked that she was doing an internship or something. 

Eleanora wasn't hurt by it or anything. She was used to being the source of her parents' shame. It didn't hurt at all, it was fine. Totally fine. 

**• • •**

"I really hate running, I don't get how people enjoy this. It's just... it's _boring,_ " Eleanora panted, stopping on the sidewalk for a rest. 

"Don't run then," Tony replied, breathing just as heavily. "There's other ways to exercise and I'm gonna be honest, I hate running too. Why don't we join a gym?" 

"I don't know why I didn't think of that... that'd be loads better." 

"Yeah? Let's do it then." 

So they did, and the more of a rhythm Eleanora got into with her regimen, the more motivated she was to do it all. She still struggled at times, but when she did, Tony and Katie were always there to keep her on track. 

"I'm proud of you," Tony kept telling her, and it always made her just as happy as the first time he had said it, always gave her the sense of a great weight lifting off her shoulders and filled her chest with a fuzzy warmth. 

While she was feeling great, she also couldn't help the sticky feeling that something bad was about to happen at any moment, that she was teetering along a balance beam and was about to come crashing down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to clarify that I don't *entirely* agree with Eleanora's treatment plan, but I'm very aware that a lot of mental health professionals don't really understand eating disorders enough, even today. Not to mention this is set in 1988. The treatment plan in this is based on a combination of personal experience, the experiences of people that I know, and research. 
> 
> While this process does help Eleanora, I've personally found intuitive eating (https://www.intuitiveeating.org/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating/) to be the best path to recovery, however this philosophy didn't even exist at the time this is set. I will be exploring Eleanora's experience with intuitive eating much later in the timeline, though. Feel free to ask me any questions about this :)


	26. Toxic Thoughts of an Overachiever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora has a tough day, and it leads to some tough conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning for mentions of suicidal thoughts in this chapter

Tony was angry. He was angry at the world for what it had thrown at Eleanora, angry at her family for the way they treated her, angry at Tucker for everything he had done. He didn't understand it, why Eleanora did what she did, didn't understand what it was about herself that she hated that much. 

He just wished that she could see what he saw.

In any case, she was doing really well. Although there were definitely setbacks, Tony was incredibly proud of Eleanora's determination and the progress that she had made. He didn't have a clue as to what she was going through, but he knew that recovering from things like eating disorders was far from easy. Yet, Eleanora pushed through the slumps, and since the summer holidays had started, she seemed to be doing even better. 

Which was why Tony was a little surprised when he went to Eleanora's apartment one morning to take her to her support group and she opened the door in her pajamas, evidently having only just woken up. So, it was one of Those days. 

Her expression was tired and embarrassed, but stubborn too. Before she could say anything, Tony stepped inside the apartment and gave her a gentle push towards her bedroom. "Go on. Go get dressed. Or if you're really feeling pajamas, you can go like that." 

"Tony... I really can't today," she sighed quietly, eyes pleading. 

And Tony didn't want to make her do something she didn't want to, he really wanted to just say 'okay', but he'd made a promise to her that he wouldn't let her do this and he couldn't fail her. 

"Quicksand, remember Lenny?"

_It's like quicksand,_ she had told him a few weeks back. _There's times when I feel stuck but I can pull myself out pretty easily and the longer I wait, the further I sink and the harder it is to get out._

"I'll go to the next one." 

"Past you told me all your excuses already, if you don't recall," he said wryly. "You're tired, you don't feel well, you just need a little break then you'll be fine - you told me not to listen to any of it. All you gotta do is get dressed, get in the car, and just sit in the meeting. You don't have to participate, you just gotta go. Anything is better than nothing." 

Eleanora stared down at her hands. 

"Come on," he said, pushing her into her bedroom, "throw on some clothes-" 

"Please stop making it sound easy!" she burst out, eyes watery. 

Tony froze, the defeated and pained expression on her face filling him with guilt. "I know it's not, Lenny," he shook his head, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I- I can't imagine what you're going through. I just... I'm trying to be optimistic and to show you that I _know_ you can do this because you're so strong. I never meant for it to come across that way." 

Then she burst into sobs and Tony felt the crack in his heart grow bigger as he pulled her into his chest. 

"Fuck, I'm sorry," she cried into his shoulder and he rubbed her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner. 

"It's okay." 

"It's _not_ , Tony. It's not, stop saying that it is. I don't want you to think that it's ok for people to keep blowing up at you for no reason." 

He shook his head with a small huff of laughter and pulled away so he could look her in the eyes. "I get the feeling that you think you're being much harsher than you think you are. You just said 'please stop making it sound easy'. And don't say that like it's a recurring issue, the only times I recall you 'blowing up at me' is when you've had some _major_ shit going on and you've apologised sincerely every single time because you didn't mean it and I _know_ you didn't mean it. I know that it's a defence mechanism. And that doesn't make it okay but I forgive you and I will over and over again because I want to." 

"I thought I wanted to forgive Tucker over and over too," Eleanora told him brokenly, wiping at her eyes, and Tony's heart sunk. "Turns out I just felt like I didn't have another choice but eventually I couldn't put up with it any more." 

"Jesus, Lenny, you're nothing like that asshole. Nothing at all, I promise. Look, if you're ever acting like an asshole, I'll tell you, but you're not. He, uh, he really messed you up, huh?" 

She let out a mirthless laugh. "Sure did." 

The ache in Tony's chest grew, and he pulled her back into another hug, admittedly a little alarmed by how much he liked having her in his arms. He couldn't even _consider_ anything like that, could not even entertain the thought - Eleanora was his friend, first and foremost, and that's what she needed, nothing more than that. 

And the _really_ alarming truth was that this wasn't that new - he'd been repressing any and all vaguely non-platonic thoughts and feelings for... well, he wasn't exactly sure how long. Frankly, it didn't matter, because he couldn't act on any of it, he didn't _want_ to. Eleanora had been through hell and was still climbing her way out. She had enough burdens without adding him into the mix. 

"Lenny... if you really don't want to go today, I won't make you, but it means that I _will_ physically drag you there next time. Because I'm not gonna let you sink. If you need a break, then you should have a break, but I won't let it turn into a slump. I promise." 

He really hoped that was the right thing to say. He didn't want to be too harsh and he wanted to let her rest if that's what she needed but he also didn't want to let her get stuck - he'd promised her he wouldn't let that happen. He had no idea where the right balance between tough love and empathy was in this situation and going too far either way could disrupt the progress she had made. 

"I think I'll give today a miss," she answered tiredly, arms tightening around him ever so slightly. "I'm so mentally exhausted." 

"Okay... what do you wanna do instead then?" 

"Stay here and do nothing," she mumbled only half-jokingly. 

"C'mon, Lenny, I get not wanting to go to the support meeting but I think it would be really good if we went out and did at least something. Anything is better than nothing, compromise with yourself." 

"Well, between going to the support group and offing myself, I think just staying here and doing nothing _is_ a compromise." 

There was an abrupt, uncomfortable silence as Tony registered what she had said. He knew she wasn't in a great frame of mind, but he hadn't realised the extent of it, and he was beginning to panic. He desperately hoped she was joking. 

"I'm sorry," Eleanora cringed, stepping away. "I don't know why I said that... that wasn't... I'm not..." 

"Lenny..." he breathed. "Do you really want to..." 

"No! Not really." 

"Not _really?"_

"It's complicated," she replied anxiously. 

"Okay... okay... let's just- why don't we sit down and you un-complicate it. I'm not gonna judge or anything, I just- shit, Lenny..." 

"I know, I know," she cut him off nervously, wringing her hands in her lap as she sat down. "I'm sorry for just springing that on you, that wasn't fair. I didn't even mean to, it just... came out." 

"No, I'm glad you said that. I... I had no idea." 

Eleanora took a deep breath. "I don't _want_ to die. I just... sometimes think it would make things easier if I did? I'm not going to kill myself or anything, I just would be a little relieved if I died in an accident or something. And I know that sounds dreadful, but... this is all so hard and I struggle to see myself ever _actually_ getting better. It sounds kind of... relieving, I guess. And not just for me." 

An uneasy feeling washed over him. "What do you mean by that?" 

"Well... for you, too. And Katie... and my parents." 

"You- you honestly think I'd be better off if you were- if you were... dead?" he asked weakly. 

"No... just- just occasionally. It's just... you do so much for me and I've only fucked things up for you and-" 

"Lenny, the reason I help you is because I want to and because just having you as a friend has made college - and well, my life - so much better and none of this even begins to repay you for that. And you've never fucked anything up. I've never met anyone, apart from Rhodey, who understands me like you do, who treats me like a normal person, who isn't interested in my family... you're kind and fair and smart... Lenny, if you- if you died..." he trailed off and swallowed. 

Eleanora looked guiltily down at her hands. "I won't- I'd never actually- it's just something that crosses my mind when I'm feeling really shitty. I'm not gonna act on it, I swear. I'm not suicidal, I don't want to die. I just... wouldn't mind that much if I did." 

" _I_ would. A _lot_. And so would Katie, so would Rhodey, so would your family - even if they are assholes." 

She nodded, curling into herself slightly. 

"Come on," Tony said, pulling her to her feet. "How about we go into the city? We can do some shopping, go bowling or something, go to an arcade, explore the beach... I don't know, we'll wing it. I can see if Rhodey and Katie want to come too... make a day out of it." 

A small smile made its way onto her face and Tony took it as a victory. "Yeah, okay... that sounds fun." 

**• • •**

"I think that I'm just too powerful for this game." 

"I completely agree, Nora," Katie nodded as Eleanora's golf ball went past the hole for the third time. "You're just too strong." 

"There's also the fact that your aim is shit," Tony grinned, and she pointed her putter at him threateningly. 

"Eat shit," she replied and promptly knocked the ball straight into the hole. "Oh, finally," she added in relief, high-fiving Rhodey. 

Eleanora really was enjoying herself, and she was definitely glad she had let Tony drag her out of her apartment. Their conversation that morning had certainly been unexpected, but something that she knew she had needed. She did feel really guilty about the whole thing, though. Tony had looked terrified and she hated that it was because of her. It also alarmed her that she hadn't even recognised her thoughts of death as an issue until that conversation. 

Even small compliments were something that Eleanora really struggled responding to, so when Tony had admitted the positive impacts she'd had on his life, she kind of just wanted to cry. She also wanted to hug him again because, boy, Tony's hugs were good hugs, but she knew that Tony wasn't a very affectionate person and he was probably just putting up with it for her sake and she didn't want to push it. 

Since getting to San Francisco, the group of four had been shopping, gone to the arcade and gotten lunch and were now just finishing the mini-golf course. 

"Beach?" Rhodey proposed as they returned the clubs to reception. 

"Sounds great," Katie agreed. 

It was only a short walk to the beach, and when they got to the sand, Tony took a running jump onto the back of Rhodey, who only just managed to grab his legs and stabilise the piggy-back instead of toppling over. "Give me a warning next time, man." 

"Where's the fun in that? Vamanos!" he shouted, pointing ahead. 

Rhodey let out a sigh and shook his head but started jogging away, Tony clinging to his back. 

Eleanora shook her head in amusement and started walking along the beach beside Katie. 

"So is there a particular reason that Rhodey and I got invited along to this date?" 

"What on earth are you talking about?" 

"Well, when you called, it wasn't 'hey, do you wanna do something', it was 'hey, Tony and I are doing this, do you wanna come', which means you'd already planned something." 

"This was definitely never a date," Eleanora rolled her eyes. "And the only reason something was planned at was because I said something that kind of made Tony freak out and so then he wanted to get me out of the apartment." 

"What did you say?" 

She scratched her arm awkwardly. "I, uh, may have made a joke that kind of wasn't a joke about offing myself." 

Katie stopped and stared at her. "Jesus, Nora. What do you mean it kind of wasn't a joke?!" 

"I'm fine! I'm not suicidal, I just... as I explained to him, I don't want to die, but _sometimes_ I think I would find it relieving and not care if I did." 

"You wouldn't find it relieving, Nora, you know why? Because you wouldn't feel _anything_ because you'd be _dead!"_ the redhead replied heatedly. 

"I know, Katie, I know. It's only something I think about when I'm... bad." 

Her expression softened and she grabbed Eleanora's hand. "I love you, and I'm really proud of you. We all are." 

Eleanora's cheeks heated up and she smiled bashfully. Honestly? She was proud of herself too. 

"Thanks, Katie... I love you too." 


	27. The Dangers of Gnocchi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora goes job hunting and her and Tony make dinner together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok wow I' m so sorry it's been so long, life's been pretty hectic. Hope you enjoy!

  
  
  
The next couple of weeks passed very quickly for Eleanora, between appointments with Dr Wren and Doctor Evans, going to the gym, meditating, doing puzzles, journaling and going out with her friends as much as she could.

She knew she was doing well, but it wasn't until she was showering in her bathroom after going to the gym with Katie and she caught sight of herself in the mirror as she was drying herself that she realised just how far she had come. She definitely didn't have a great relationship with mirrors, usually going between obsessively scrutinising herself in the mirror and avoiding her reflection entirely.

However, that morning, Eleanora stood in front of the mirror and stared at her body in the mirror and she felt... indifferent. As odd as it sounded, that was huge progress. For someone used to feeling ashamed at the sight of her own body, the fact that she could stare at herself, and even start pointing out things that she like about herself was astounding.

She trailed her fingers over her stomach, her chest, her hips and felt... the vaguest, hardly noticeable sense of acceptance. It was huge.

Returning to her bedroom to get dressed, Eleanora threw on her self-love t-shirt and a pair of leggings. When she stepped back out, she just grinned at Katie and hugged the girl tightly.

"What's up with you?" she asked in amusement, squeezing her around her middle.

"I just... I just feel good."

Katie smiled fondly at her. "I'm glad."  
  
  
  


**• • •**   
  
  
  


Eleanora had been under the impression that Tony was not a very affectionate person, but over the last few weeks, she had noticed him becoming more open to touch, often throwing his arm over her shoulder and hugging her more often and not just for comfort when she was upset. And she really liked it, however, it also made it harder and harder to deny possibility that maybe, just _maybe_ , she saw the boy as something more than a friend (but that was an understatement, even if she didn't want to admit it).

She'd been thinking a lot about her family recently, particularly her parents and what their plan was for her. Or rather, what their plan was when they finally decided she had strayed too far from their plan for her and labelled her a waste of time. It was inevitable, really.

They wouldn't cut her off would they? Sure, she'd been stubborn and petty and disappointed them but they were still her parents.

 _Don't be an idiot_ , she told herself. _The only reason they're paying for your treatment is because you're threatening the family reputation._

With everything that had happened, Eleanora knew she was on thin ice and it was only a matter of time before they properly disowned her. And honestly? The cutting off contact part didn't bother her that much - she hardly saw her parents that often anyway and that was because she didn't _want_ to, because they made her feel like shit. It was more so the financial aspect that was going to be a problem. Her parents were considerably wealthy, but not a cent of that was actually hers.

If they cut her off, how would she pay for the rest of her college fees? How would she pay for rent, her appointments, food? If she wanted to be truly free of Reginald and Beatrice, she needed to be able to support herself so that they couldn't use that against her. She needed a job.

And that was how Eleanora ended up in the public library, writing up various versions of a resume at a typewriter. Except she had never written a resume before, had no idea what you were actually meant to put on it and was getting increasingly frustrated as the pile of scrunched up pieces of paper grew.

"What in fresh hell are you working on?"

Eleanora jumped and whirled around in her chair to face Tony, whose eyes darted between the discard pile and the sheet she was currently typing on.

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"Katie told me. And are you writing a resume?"

She could hear the scepticism in his voice, that he thought it was a bad idea. She nodded.

"Is this just for practice or are you looking at finding work somewhere?"

"I want to get a job," she told him confidently.

"That's... that's great, Lenny, but do you think that's the best idea right now? With everything else you've got going, I mean."

Eleanora bit the inside of her cheek and sighed. "Honestly? I don't know... I'm doing really good right now, but I also don't know how that will change when we go back. But I need to get a job sooner or later, preferably sooner."

"Why?" he frowned. "You don't exactly... _need_ one, right?"

She looked at him with a wry expression. "My parents are rich, I am not. Right now, they have total financial control over me and I don't want that... at all. I don't want that to be something they can hold over me. And I'm well aware that money isn't everything but I can't get by with nothing if they decide to... cut me out."

Tony's expression softened, and he shifted his body to completely face her as he gave her a small smile. "Well, fortunately for you, where your parents are controlling and possessive, my dad doesn't pay any attention to me and will literally throw money at me if it means getting out of his way. So don't stress about this."

"I don't want to take your money, Tony."

"It's not my money, it's my dad's," he grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "Great."

"Seriously, it's not a problem at all, I don't want you stressing about something you don't need to."

"It's not just that... just..." Eleanora rubbed her forehead, "for once in my life, I'd actually like to be in control of something."

"Okay... I get that."

"Look, at this point, I think I would handle a job just fine. I'd actually _like_ something to do. And maybe it will just stress me out heaps when uni starts again, but I won't know unless I do it and if it gets bad, I can quit."

"Alright... but you can't wait until it's too late, you need to make sure you're putting yourself first and if you get even an inkling that it's getting too much, put in your notice."

"I promise. Remember that I haven't actually got a job yet, though. It won't be a problem if I don't get one."

"You will," he said, leaning back in his chair, and he sounded so confident. And not that bullshit confidence people put on to make someone feel better, it was _real_ confidence. It felt really nice to be genuinely believed in like that.

For the next ten minutes or so, Tony tried to help her out and give her advice on what to write, but he hardly had much experience in the matter. "Sorry, I'm not really a lot of help," he apologised. "I've never even thought about these because I've never considered that I'd have to apply for anything because, well, I won't. Kind of had my future set for me."

Sometimes Eleanora forgot just how similar she and Tony were.

"Hello," an elderly woman who worked for the library and was working her way around with the duster smiled. Her name tag read 'Irene'. "What are you working on?"

"Well, I'm trying to do a resume but I don't really have a clue what I'm doing," Eleanora answered with a laugh.

"I can help you out, love, show me what you've got so far," Irene offered kindly, moving around the desk and coming to stand on Eleanora's other side. "Well, first of all you'll want an indent there. A lot of the formatting could use improvement but we can get to that later, let's just focus on the content first, shall we?"

And so Irene spent a fair amount of time advising her on what to include and phrases to avoid and how to structure it. Then she mentioned a cover letter, which Eleanora hadn't even heard of before, and guided her through writing that, too. Irene certainly didn't get paid to do this and Eleanora couldn't put her gratitude into words, especially when the final products were complete.

"Where are you going to be applying?" the older woman asked conversationally.

Eleanora shrugged, "anywhere."

Irene's eyes twinkled and she leant forward slightly. "You didn't hear this from me, but my niece's friend works at the library over at the university and apparently one of the young ladies that works there is going to be leaving in a few weeks to follow her boyfriend to Chicago. They haven't advertised for the position yet, so if you get in early, they might not need to."

"Thanks so much!"

"Not a problem, honey."

After she walked away, Eleanora turned to Tony with an amazed look on her face.

"That would be so convenient. That's... that's _too_ perfect."

But Tony was seemingly very excited for her and beamed. "Not for you. Come on, I'll help you type up some copies and then we can go hand them around to a few places."

"I can do it, you don't have to-"

"Lenny, when will you learn that I don't do anything that I don't want to?"  
  
  


**• • •**   
  
  
  


"I'm not taking the job there if I get offered it. That manager was full on."

"What do you mean?" Tony asked as they started to make their way to the grocery store, where they were going to buy some ingredients to make dinner.

"Well, when I started to tell him that I was interested in applying, he started going on about how great I'd be and how he'd love to work with me and I was thinking 'mate, I literally just walked through the door, you know nothing about me'. I just got a super weird vibe from him and a part of me didn't want to give him my resume because it's got my contact information on it, but then he kinda grabbed it out of my hands anyway."

Tony grimaced. "Yeah, definitely turn that one down."

"I think if he calls, I'll pretend I'm someone else and say that I died."

Eleanora had enough experience with guys like him to suspect that the man wasn't likely to take no for an answer.

After getting what they needed from the store, the pair headed back to Tony's apartment and got out the recipe. Before they started cooking, Eleanora went to the bathroom, and caught herself fixing her hair in the mirror on the way out.

 _Stop it, you idiot,_ she scolded herself, and hurried back out to the kitchen.

When Tony cut open the packet of pre-made gnocchi, picked one of the pieces up and inspected it closely, Eleanora raised her eyebrows.

"What's wrong with it?"

"It seems pretty dry."

She sniggered. "Since when were you a gnocchi connoisseur?"

"Well, I'm not, but my mom's Italian and she always makes her own stuff."

"Wait, _what?_ How did I not know that? And why didn't you mention that earlier?"

Tony laughed brightly and shrugged, "I don't know, and it didn't really come up in conversation."

"Tony!" she whined. "You've grown up with an Italian mother making you home-made pasta and you just went along with it when I bought the packet stuff?"

"You said it was good!"

"Yeah, coming from someone who's never had fresh, _home-made_ gnocchi before!"

"Oh, chill out," he snickered, before glancing back at the gnocchi. "But is it normally like this?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake. Yes, it is, because it's full of preservatives so it doesn't go gross in the grocery store. I apologise, your majesty."

Tony rolled his eyes.

"If you're so picky, why didn't you just suggest we make it from scratch?"

"I'm not _picky_ , I'm just _curious_. Also I couldn't be bothered."

"Well, then, shut it."

A while later, as the sauce was simmering and Eleanora was tossing the salad she'd insisting on making, Tony was put in charge of cooking the gnocchi. She assumed that, since he'd done this before, he'd be perfectly fine. Apparently she assumed wrong, which she realised when she heard him let out a small shriek.

"I got splashed," Tony answered her questioning look when she turned around. "This is really hard to do, mom always made it look easy, but whenever I try to do it, I get splashed with boiling water. Even one at a time is hazardous - these things are dense."

"Do you have a ladle or something you can use to scoop it in gently?"

"I'm not a _chef_."

"It's a fucking _ladle_ , Tony," she replied, searching through the drawers for the biggest spoon she could find. It seemed that would be a soup spoon. "You don't have anything bigger than this?"

Tony smirked, so she smacked him lightly with the spoon in her hand.

"I'm just going to spoon them in bit by bit - I'll be quick," he nodded, taking the spoon from her and proceeding to slowly spoon the gnocchi in, 2-3 pieces at a time. It only took a very short time for the gnocchi that was first put in the pot to rise to the surface, by which point he hadn't even gotten through a third of the packet. "Oh, shit."

He started quickening his pace, but consequently his technique slackened, causing water to splash more, resulting in Tony squeaking and moving further and further away to avoid the water. This caused a continuous cycle until he literally threw the last few into the pot from practically across the kitchen, leaving Elenora clutching at the counter as she laughed hysterically at his behaviour, finding herself sliding to the ground. He just grinned at her.

"What are you laughing at?"

"That was- that was so fu- funny," she gasped between giggles. "I can't believe you're fucking Italian."

"I've never done it on my own before!" Despite his defensive tone, Tony was smiling brightly, eyes twinkling as he lifted her back to her feet.

"You could have asked me to do it, I didn't realise it was such a traumatic process for you."

"But then _you_ would have got splashed," he replied unthinkingly.

 _Fuck_ , she thought when she felt her heart soften at the comment. She averted her gaze and moved past him to take the cooked gnocchi out of the pot and into the serving bowls. "You know, this really would be a lot easier if you had something bigger - preferably a slotted spoon."

"I like to challenge myself."

"Clearly."

As they ate dinner (which Tony did enjoy) they searched through the VCRs that were in the apartment and ended up putting on The Neverending Story. During That Scene in the Swamps of Sadness, Eleanora looked over at Tony to see if he could see her crying, only to see his own eyes shining.

She shuffled closer to him and linked her arm with his, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks or the way her heart seemingly struggled to find it's usual rhythm.  
  
  
  


**• • •**   
  
  
  


Tony would have really appreciated it if Eleanora could stop looking so damn cute. When she heard about the job going at the university library, the excitement in her eyes looked like fireworks, and when she slid down to the floor giggling at his method of getting the gnocchi in the pot, it sparked a warmth in his chest

Then she had to go and link their arms while watching the damn movie and he felt a physical tug at his heart. He wanted to pull her closer, into his side, to rest his head on hers and intertwine their hands.

Instead, he swallowed and stayed right where he was, and wondered if he would ever get to do that.


	28. Drama Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tucker makes a return but Eleanora isn't dealing with his shit. 
> 
> And neither is Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I'm gonna try to get back to weekly updates, life's been crazy but I should be getting back into a routine soon!

  
  
  
As it turned out, Brett, the weird manager from the art store did call Eleanora the following day to offer her the job. Sure enough she put on the act of distraught family member and told the man that 'Eleanora' had been in a terrible accident and died the previous day. Needless to say, the conversation was an awkward mess and Brett was clearly horrified. She felt kind of bad.

That was, until the next evening when there was a knock at the door. Katie, being the closest, was the one to open the door and Eleanora stilled when she caught sight of the man holding a small bunch of flowers.

"Can I help you?" Katie deadpanned.

"Um, hi, I just- I heard about Eleanora and I just wanted to come and offer my condolences-" Brett cut himself off abruptly when his eyes landed on her. Katie looked between them with a confused expression.

"H-hi," Eleanora awkwardly coughed, making her way over. "I'm- I'm Antoinette. Eleanora's twin sister."

"Oh, wow. I-I'm so sorry for your loss."

"How did you know her?" Katie asked, looking pointedly at her.

"Oh, um, she came into my store a couple days ago to apply for a job. I didn't- I didn't know her that well. Seemed great, though."

"Okay. Thanks," the redhead scrunched her face up and shut the door, before turning to Eleanora. "What the fuck?"

"Yeah, I know. When I said I was interested in applying for a job, he started going on about how great I'd be and how excited he was to have me on the team and I was kinda like 'what' because I'd just walked in, you know? I got super weird vibes from him and I got that gut feeling so I wasn't going to actually hand my resume in but then he grabbed it out of my hand. So then he called yesterday to offer me the job and I told him that I was dead. I sure as fuck didn't expect him to get our address off my resume and fucking come here when he literally didn't even know who, if anyone, was going to answer."

"Yikes... Also, Antoinette?"

"It's the first thing that came to my mind," Eleanora shrugged.

Katie raised her eyebrows slightly as she grabbed her handbag. "Okay... I'm going to work now, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya, have a good shift."

"Well, since we finally put a sign up asking people to stop trying to kiss the bartenders' hands, it'll probably be alright."

"You should spit in their drinks. Or just poison them."

"I get real close, sometimes, Nora," Katie laughed. "Real close. Catch you later."

After the girl was gone, Eleanora decided to call Tony to tell him what had happened because she figured he'd find it equally as funny and ridiculous.

 _"He actually came to your apartment?"_ Tony responded incredulously when she recounted the events. " _That's so weird. I get that hearing a girl you met the other day died is upsetting but why would you go to her apartment when you have no idea if anyone else even lives there and when you only had one conversation with her?"_

"Because people like him have no boundaries. This is why I trust my gut instinct, Jesus. As soon as he grabbed my resume I was like 'well, shit, now he has all my contact information' which really shouldn't be a concern in a potential employer."

She smiled fondly as Tony's laugh echoed through the receiver. _"Definitely not. What have you got planned for tonight?"_

"Umm, well I was just going to work on the current jigsaw puzzle."

_"What is it this time?"_

"Some big lake in Canada, it's nice."

_"Want a hand?"_

"Yeah, that'd be great! I'll see you later."

When Eleanora found herself topping up her mascara in the bathroom mirror, she tried not to think too much about it.  
  
  
  


About an hour later, there was another knock at the door, and Eleanora bounded over and opened it, only to freeze when she met Tucker's eyes. Before she could say a word, he pushed past, into the apartment and she caught the strong stench of alcohol.

"Get out," she ordered coldly.

"El, baby, come on, there's no need for that. I love you, I wanna fix this, I wanna get back together."

"Well, I don't."

Tucker sighed and stepped closer to her, arms moving to grab her arms, however she smacked them away roughly.

" _Don't_ touch me."

"You're not even giving me a chance!" he burst out angrily.

"I _gave_ you a chance, Tucker. I gave you chance after chance until I had none left to give and that is not my fault."

He clenched his jaw, eyes darkening. "It _is_ your fault, _everything_ is your fault. You fucking- we were _happy_ \- Hannah and I - and then _you_ had to go and open your big mouth. I managed to deal with that but the damage was done and she didn' trust me as much 'n then she found that fuckin' hair tie an' apparently she doesn't buy brown ones so she went ape shit at me... The wedding's off, she kicked me out, my parents are pissed... If you actually wanted to help Hannah you would have just shut the fuck up, but instead you just wanted to get your petty revenge. I hope you're- I hope you're fuckin' happy."

She had a lot to say to that, but he wasn't worth any of it. "I am, actually. Now get out."

"Everything was fine until you interfered. You fuckin'- you fuckin' ruined my life, you bitch."

Eleanora crossed her arms, standing her ground when he took a few threatening steps towards her. Oh, the perks of having no regard for your life.

"You ruined it yourself when you cheated on your fiancée. You're too proud to say that you made a mistake, you're a coward 'til the end. There isn't a chance in hell that I would ever get back with you so by coming here, you're just embarrassing yourself. And if you just came here to yell at me and blame me for the consequences of your own fucked up actions, I'm not going to put up with that. You can take your double standard 'love' and keep it. Now get out."

"You're making a mistake," he hissed. She just stared back at him with an unimpressed expression.

"You're seriously _still_ trying to threaten me? I'm not afraid of you, there's nothing you can do to hurt me anymore. You're finished. Game over."

Tucker let out a growl of frustration and stormed out of the apartment, stopping outside the doorway and turning back. "I'm giving you one last chance."

"To _what?"_ Eleanora barked out a laugh, standing in the door frame with her arms folded.

"Take me back."

"I would rather cut off my own arm and shove my detached limb up my-"

"Hey!" a furious voice called from down the hall, and Tucker had the audacity to smirk as Tony approached. "What the fuck do you think you're doing here?"

"He was just leaving," Eleanora said coolly.

Tucker glanced back to her, his smirk widening. "So _this_ is what you've been doing, huh? This is why you're acting all high and mighty? Well, you know what they say, the best way to get over a man is to get under another-"

Before he could finish, Tony had grabbed the side of Tucker's head and slammed it into the wall, creating a loud thud that made Eleanora gasp and Tucker grunt in pain.

"Tony!" she shrieked as her ex proceeding to twist around and deliver a punch to Tony's face.

The brawl was only brief, but by the time that Eleanora managed to tug Tony away and get Tucker to finally fuck off, they were both pretty banged up, although the latter was definitely worse off (fortunately).

"Can you believe that guy?" Tony coughed, wincing as he touched the cut through his eyebrow, from which blood was trickling down his cheek.

Eleanora rounded on him. "Can I believe _him?_ I can't believe _you!_ "

_"Me?"_

"Why would you do that? I had it under control, he was about to leave, you didn't have to do that."

"I'm sorry, did you not hear the shit he was saying?" he scowled.

"Yeah, I did, Tony, but he was just being a drunk dickhead, you didn't need to start a fucking fist fight."

Tony bit the inside of his cheek. "Okay, in retrospect, maybe that wasn't the best course of action, but in my defence... I was really mad."

Eleanora let out a soft groan. "Okay... okay... just- come inside, you're bleeding."

"Is that the only reason I'm allowed inside? If I wasn't severely injured, you'd cast me out?"

"Don't be a drama queen."

She lead him inside and made him sit down on the toilet so she could get a good angle to see his wounds. Apart from the cut on his eyebrow, his eye was already puffing up and darkening, his split lip was swelling slightly, and a smaller cut on the cheekbone on the other side of his face was drying out. She let out a sigh and grabbed a cloth before running it under warm water, mind racing.

So Hannah had found a brown hair tie that clearly wasn't hers and finally accepted what Eleanora had told her as the truth. There was a problem with that, though.

"You're thinking about something," Tony stated quietly as she placed a finger under his chin and started wiping at the blood on his face, careful not to put too much pressure around the forming black eye. "What is it?"

She hesitated. "The reason he was here is because he was shitty at me for 'ruining his life' because Hannah found a brown hair tie and apparently she doesn't buy brown ones so she kicked him out."

"That's... good, isn't it? Not being shitty at you, I mean, but the fact that she's out of that now."

"Yeah... but I don't use brown hair ties either. Which is whatever. After everything that happened, I had my suspicions that maybe I wasn't the only one and I guess this just confirms it."

"Wow," Tony said after a moment. "I'm glad I punched him, then."

"You say that like you only hit him once."

He gave her a small hopeful smile. "Water under the bridge?"

She dropped her hands and scowled at him. "No, not water under the bridge, water in my fucking lungs. Tony, that was my fight, I had it handled, he was about to leave. It doesn't matter what he was saying, you didn't need to charge in and beat him to a pulp."

"He deserved it."

"I'm not arguing with that, but... shit, you can't be so impulsive like that. He could press charges against you for assault, you could have gotten really hurt-"

"So you're saying that you're mad at me because you were worried about me," he concluded with a smug expression.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," she responded impatiently, and resumed gently cleaning the wounds. "And you're doing it again - I told you, don't put up that front with me, I can see straight through you."

Tony's expression grew more serious and he bit the inside of his cheek. "I'm sorry, Lenny. I'm sorry for acting impulsively and violently and for making you worried. And I really appreciate you cleaning me up like this."

He lifted his gaze to meet hers and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. She stepped back abruptly and glanced away, the sudden urge to kiss him that had just clouded her mind instilling a sharp sense of panic and making her feel hot.

Tony stood up, a slightly pained look on his face, and Eleanora went to take another step back, to seek some kind of relief from whatever it was that was pulling her to him, urging her to touch him, to kiss him. But then Tony had wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

Sure, they had hugged many times before, but this time was different. For starters, it was much tighter, as if she was the only thing keeping him tethered to the ground. Then there was his face pressed into the crook of her neck, his hair brushing against her skin and setting it alight. And his _smell_ , fucking hell it was making her dizzy in the best way.

One of her hands moved from around Tony's neck to the back of his head, fingers winding through his hair, at the same time that his thumb started brushing up and down on her own back.

It felt so inconceivably _right -_ safe and warm and reassuring, but at the same time, it was fuelling the fire in her heart, making it beat hard and fast. She didn't want to pull away; partly because of how nice it felt and partly because if the hug didn't mean to Tony what it meant to her...

Tony drew away painfully slowly, hands moving to her hips as he stood in front of her, eyes boring into hers. She felt like he was staring into her soul and she felt so vulnerable, yet so safe. She would have been more startled to realise her hands were still resting on his shoulders if it weren't for his gaze flickering down to her lips, or for the fact that she found herself leaning forward slightly and glancing at his own lips. Then Tony was inching forward too, but he was moving too slow and- fuck it.

Eleanora closed the distance between them, her lips meeting Tony's in a soft but desperate kiss, hands moving to cup his face. He pulled her flush against his body and returned the kiss with vigour, only to abruptly pull away with a slight wince as his tongue darted over the split on his bottom lip. "Ow."

"Shit, sorry," she breathed, drawing away slightly, unable stop beaming elatedly.

Tony, however, tugged her lightly back towards him, a dopey smile on his face. "Now, let's be rational, here. It doesn't hurt _that_ much. Besides, it's only that side so just kiss _this_ side of my lips," he said, pointing to the uninjured side.

"You're ridiculous," she laughed, but leant forward and placed another - gentler - kiss on his lips, avoiding the cut. But Tony didn't seem too bothered about it, kissing her back ardently and earnestly until they had to break away to catch a breath, resting their foreheads together. 

His lips stretched into a soft grin, "Wow." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, amirite?


End file.
